The Hindu : Other States / Rajasthan News : Centre promises to buy Rajasthan mustard

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 12, 2005

Other States

Other States - Rajasthan

Centre promises to buy Rajasthan mustard

Special Correspondent

Assurance comes after Raje leads high power delegation to meet Sharad Pawar in Delhi

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje, has seemingly prevailed upon the Centre to continue procuring mustard from the State's farmers at the minimum support price and also release funds for the payment of dues amounting to over Rs.1,264 crores.

Ms. Raje, who on Wednesday led a high profile delegation of Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament from the State to 6 Janpath, the official residence of the Union Minister for Agriculture, Sharad Pawar in Delhi, to press for the twin demands, indicated in the evening that the mission was successful.

The State was on the brink of a turmoil after suspension of the procurement two days back at the end of what NAFED had explained as stocks exceeding the quantitative ceiling of 11.94 lakh metric tonnes. Farmers had come out on the streets, stopping vehicles and burning stocks of mustard still lying unsold with them as a token of protest.

Payment overdue

After procuring 12.62 lakh metric tonnes of mustard at the MSP of Rs.1,700 per quintal from February 5, the agencies so far have paid Rs.981 crores to farmers while the total value of the mustard purchased is Rs.2,264 crores. No payment has been made for nearly 25 days

"Mr.Pawar listened to us sympathetically and promised the release of the amount to NAFED for payment to farmers at the earliest and not later than Monday," the Ministers -- Rajendra Singh Rathore, Narpat Singh Rajvi, Digamber Singh and Madan Dilwar - told the Press on Wednesday evening after returning to Jaipur. Other members of the delegation to Mr. Pawar included Najma Heptullah, Subhash Maharia, Srichand Kripalani, Dushyant Singh, Ramsingh Kaswan and Sushila Bangaru.

Bumper crop

"He thanked the farmers of Rajasthan for the bumper crop this season which would help to reduce imports in oil seeds,'' Mr. Rathore said. "Mr.Pawar reiterated that it was the responsibility of the Centre to help farmers,'' he said.

To resume on Monday

"NAFED has been directed to keep the procurement open,'' Mr. Rathore said. "We have also been told by Mr. Pawar that the procurement of mustard by NAFED would be resumed by Monday," he added. At present the procurement of the commodity stands suspended after NAFED and Rajfed discontinued buying from Monday last.

"The import position is such that NAFED is incurring a loss of Rs.700-800 for every quintal of mustard purchased,'' Mr. Rajvi said explaining the Centre's diffidence over buying the commodity of which Rajasthan is the biggest producer in the country.

"Cheap imports of palm oil and soybean are coming from Malaysia and other countries. Yet the Government of India has committed on assured minimum returns to farmers on the basis of their investments through the mechanism of support prices,'' Mr. Rajvi noted.

The Ministers also hinted that NAFED would at least buy another 5 lakh metric tonnes of mustard this season -- against the estimated production of 35 lakh tonnes in the State.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Other States

News Update

Stories in this Section

Centre promises to buy Rajasthan mustard

LIC's unit linked plans earn dividends