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Centre’s policies hit farmers, says BJP

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday criticised the United Progressive Alliance government and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar for policies that had adversely affected farmers in the rural areas and consumers in urban centres.

Its spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said here that the recent ban on the export of non-basmati rice would hurt growers. He said Rs. 200-crore worth rice was lying in docks for export. These stocks would now make their way back into the domestic market and send prices crashing.

Mr. Javadekar took exception to Mr. Pawar blaming the National Democratic Alliance government for the crisis. “How could he blame the NDA for the deteriorating wheat situation created by the UPA?”

Mr. Javadekar said under the NDA regime wheat procurement for the buffer stock and for the public distribution system (PDS) ranged from 12.65 million tonnes in 1998-99 to 16.80 million tonnes in 2004-05 with the procurement in 2001-02 touching a record 20.63 million tonnes. Against this, during the UPA regime the procurement was 14.79 million tonnes in 2005-06 and only 9.23 million tonnes till November 2006.

Mr. Javadekar charged that Mr. Pawar has “deliberately taken a stand that he knows is wrong. Mr. Pawar glossed over the fact that during the NDA regime the procurement was good and there was higher allocation for the PDS.”

On Mr. Pawar blaming BJP-ruled States for the poor procurement last year, Mr. Javadekar said that after wheat was sold by farmers — presumably for prices higher than the minimum support price offered — the UPA government had announced a bonus of Rs. 100 a quintal for wheat, but by that time they had no wheat to sell.

Mr. Javadekar reiterated his allegations of a scandal in wheat imports and blamed the entry of private companies, allowed into the market by the UPA, for the poor procurement. He said he would soon be writing to Mr. Pawar on all these issues.

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