The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : MSP for paddy: Cabinet favours committee recommendations

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Wednesday, Oct 24, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

MSP for paddy: Cabinet favours committee recommendations

Special Correspondent

YSR to meet Manmohan Singh on November 2
MSP for paddy figures high on Cabinet agenda

HYDERABAD: The State Cabinet, which met here on Tuesday, has resolved to press for the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendation on the Minimum Support Price for paddy.

The Commission had recommended that the MSP for agricultural commodities should be at least 50 per cent more than the weighted average cost of production.

The Cabinet decision assumes significance in the face of the ongoing Opposition agitation demanding a MSP of Rs. 1,000 per quintal of paddy on a par with wheat.

The Swaminathan Commission, appointed by the UPA Government to study among other things MSP for all agricultural commodities had submitted its report recently.

Even as the Union Government was studying the report, paddy-growing States like West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Tamil Nadu have come together to make a common effort for a higher MSP.

Naidu in Delhi

The MSP issue figured high on the agenda at the Cabinet meeting here on Tuesday, with a Telugu Desam delegation led by its president, N. Chandrababu Naidu already in Delhi to take it up with the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

Briefing the media later, Information Minister A. Ramanarayan Reddy said the Cabinet held the view that a higher MSP than Rs. 1,000 a quintal for paddy was possible if the Centre accepted the Commission’s recommendations.

It expected that the Central Government could even come out with an announcement shortly to this effect.

Mr. Reddy said the Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy would meet the Prime Minister, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on November 2 to seek a solution to the problem.

The Cabinet noted that the MSP for paddy had reached Rs 590 per quintal with a rise of Rs 40 during the nine-year rule of the Telugu Desam where as the hike was Rs. 135 during the last three and half years of Congress Government, taking the total to Rs 725 per quintal.s

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