Recast MSP panel to represent Punjab, Bhagwant Mann urges Narendra Modi

CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconstitute the committee on minimum support price (MSP) for crops by giving due representation to the state.
In a letter to Modi, home minister Amit Shah and Union agriculture minister Narendra Tomar, he said, “The state in which the MSP mechanism is being implemented most successfully since the initiation of this scheme has been kept out of the committee.”
Mann said the Centre recently formed the committee on MSP under former IAS officer Sanjay Aggarwal andit has several experts and senior officers from various states as members, but none from Punjab. In his letter, Mann wrote Punjab played a vital role in making the country self-sufficient in food grains by contributing 35-40% of wheat and 25-30% of rice to the central pool in the last about one decade. He said nearly 60-62 million tonnes of wheat and rice, most of which was produced by the farmers of the state, was distributed every year to about 800 million people of the country at subsidized rates under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013.
Everyone is aware of the fact that these welfare programmes of governments for the poor have been made possible due to the immense contribution of Punjab, he said. During 2021- 22, out of total global rice exports of about 54 million tonnes, India contributed about 21.5 million tonnes (about 40% of total export), he added.
Punjab has contributed heavily towards these rice exports, despite the fact that paddy is not the staple food of Punjabis. Keeping in view Punjab’s key role in ushering the green revolution and making the country food surplus, due representation must be given to the state by reconstituting the panel, he said.