BJD seeks Prez intervention, demands paddy MSP at Rs 2,500

Terming the BJP-led NDA government as "anti-farmer", the ruling BJD in Odisha today urged the President to direct the Centre to enhance the MSP for paddy to Rs 2,500 per quintal and release drought assistance for the state to protect interest of farmers.
BJD activists including ministers and party MLAs sat on a dharna near Raj Bhavan and submitted a memorandum with the Governor addressed to the President.
Stating that Odisha farmers contribute substantial quantity of paddy to the central pool, the BJD pointed out that input cost for paddy cultivation has increased manifold due to rise in prices of fertiliser, labour, pesticides and others.

The farmers in the state have been losing out in getting their dues with respect of their produce, the memorandum said adding, farmers are forced to sell their product at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) announced by the Centre.
"But, the MSP for paddy is not commensurate with the rising input costs. It does not even meet the inflationary cost which reduces the value of money every year," it said.
Though the Odisha government recommended to fix MSP at Rs 2,500 per quintal of paddy for the Kharif Marketing Season 2015-16, the Centre fixed the MSP for paddy at Rs 1,410 per quintal for the common variety.

"Today, our farmers are not even getting the cost of

cultivation for paddy. We request the Government of India to keep their promise and implement the Swaminathan formula," the memorandum said.
This apart, the BJD also drew the attention of the President to the difficulty faced by farmers of Odisha due to the drought last year.
Odisha has experienced severe drought in 404 wards of 55 ULBs and 29,044 villages of 233 blocks under 27 districts, which constitute 33 per cent crop loss in 14.82 lakh hectares of agricultural land.
Though the state government has demanded Rs 2,344.99 crore for drought assistance, the Centre sanctioned only Rs 815 crore.

"Including Odisha, ten drought-affected states have demanded for central assistance in the financial year 2015-16, but Central government has sanctioned out of National Disaster Relief Fund to different BJP ruled states like Rs 1,276.25 crore for Chhattisgarh, Rs 2,023.68 crore for Madhya Pradesh, Rs 1,193.41 crore for Rajasthan, Rs 3,049.36 crore for Maharashtra, whereas only Rs 815 crore has been sanctioned to Odisha," the BJD alleged.
The party said only Rs 600.52 crore drought assistance has been sanctioned in three instalments.
"The state government has been instructed to incur the rest amount of Rs 214.48 crore from State Disaster Management Fund," the BJD said.

"Therefore, the BJD requests the President to intervene in the matter and to direct the Centre to reconsider the genuine demands of the state government for enhancement of MSP for paddy and sanction the rest amount of drought assistance to protect the greater interest of farmers," the party said in the memorandum.