Rabi procurement: Stand-off continues over direct payments to Punjab farmers

Graduation of rabi procurement is just a week away (anticipated April ten), but no finish is in sight to the stand-off in between the Centre and the Punjab authorities over immediate payments for the foodgrains procured. Ironically, nobody, which includes farmers who are ostensibly the beneficiaries of the immediate dollars transfer, is happy with the transfer.

The Ministry of Customer Affair, Food stuff and Community Distribution had educated the Punjab authorities that DBT to farmers is necessary for the coming rabi wheat procurement time. Even so, the Condition has refused to carry out it, and has sought appointment with Primary Minister Narendra Modi to explore the problem and defer the plan for at least a person calendar year.

Arhtiyas opposed to transfer

Arhtiyas, or fee brokers, in Punjab are up in arms towards the transfer. In accordance to them, it is aimed at destroying APMC (Agricultural Create Marketing and advertising Committee) mandis and providing anything on a platter to non-public players, whom the BJP-led NDA authorities at the Centre would like to advertise.

“The current method of payment ( through fee brokers) has been in place for the previous 50 years and has worked effectively. Even farmers do not have any problems about it. We have been paying out down to the previous penny to farmers instantly,” said Vijay Kalra, President, Federation of Arhtiya Association of Punjab. Arhtiyas strategy to hold a key protest meet in Moga on Monday, in which several farmers leaders are also anticipated to take part.

Cumbersome for farmers

Balbir Singh Rajewal, President, Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal), said the transfer is not in favour of farmers in the Condition. “It is going to make it cumbersome for farmers to sell their generate at procurement centres. Each time a farmer normally takes the generate to the mandi, he has to generate proof of his landholding. Nearly 40 for every cent of land in Punjab is owned by absentee landlords who have given their land to tenants for cultivation. While the Centre argues that these tenants can sign-up their contracts with landlords in buy to get the DBT, how several landlords would come ahead as they will anxiety shedding their holdings to tenants who have been tilling the land for several years,” questioned Rajewal.

He said the DBT problem came up a several years ago when Parkash Singh Badal was the Main Minister. “When that authorities sought the opinion of farmers on this problem, only 3 farmers supported it. The farmers have self-confidence in fee brokers, who have been earning payments to them instantly,” Rajewal informed BusinessLine.

In accordance to Kalra, insistence of land records as proof led to 22 for every cent considerably less paddy procurement in Haryana in the past kharif time.The transfer, he suggests, is only an endeavor to dismantle the Food stuff Company of India so that non-public companies can choose its place. Farmers throughout the nation will hold demonstrations towards any transfer to scrap the FCI, Rajewal included.

‘Wrong timing’

An additional farmer leader, said the timing of the Centre was wrong, even nevertheless he was not entirely towards the plan. “It is currently being implemented in the midst of a farmer agitation. Secondly, there ought to have been a guide time of at least six months for bringing these a drastic alter, not just a person thirty day period as is the situation now,” he said.

Gurdeep Kamra of the Fee Agents Association in Haryana, which implemented the plan this calendar year, said the DBT will not function and Haryana would see a huge variety of farmers hitting the street as payments are not going to be sleek.

“While arhtiyas would get two.5 for every cent fee for the solutions they offer these as procurement, their involvement in procurement is going to be minimal in the new method. Before, arhtiyas applied to make certain the quality of grains they procured. But now on they will procure regardless of what the farmers convey in. If the quality of grains is inferior (these as high moisture ranges) their payments might get caught, foremost to key disgruntlement among farmers,” Kamra said, expressing self-confidence that the Condition would revert to the earlier method from very up coming calendar year.