Punjab Chief Minister welcomes Rs.75 hike in MSP of Wheat

Punjab News Express
CHANDIGARH: While the opposition parties in Punjab have rejected the meager hike in MSP of Wheat, the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal who heads the SAD-BJP alliance government has welcomed the hike of Rs.75 in the MSP by center government.

The opposition is targeting state and center government for doing little to save the farmers who are committing suicides in Punjab and in other states. Punjab Congress has blamed that meagre hike of Rs.75 per quintal in the MSP of Wheat is cruel joke. It is recalled that Harsimrat Kaur Badal daughter-in-law of Chief Minister is cabinet minister in the Modi Government.

Chief Minister described the increase in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Wheat by Rs 75 per quintal as a welcome step. He however added that that this needed to be further enhanced commensurate with steep increase in the cost of agriculture inputs.

Badal said that although this increase in the MSP is a much needed relief to the farmers but it was inadequate and insufficient to absorb the huge burden imposed on the farmers by the vagaries of natural and market forces. The Chief Minister therefore demanded either the MSP of farm products be linked to overall price index or Swaminathan formula of 50 per cent profit over and above the cost of production be adopted.