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Union Agriculture and Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan announced in the Rajya Sabha that the government will procure all lentil (masoor), black gram (urad), and pigeon pea (arhar) produced by farmers. The procurement will be conducted through the e-Samriddhi platform, and farmers will need to register for the process.
The Union Agriculture Minister stated that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, the government has purchased the highest quantity of crops at Minimum Support Price (MSP). Citing figures from the previous UPA government, Chauhan said that between 2003-04 and 2013-14, only 45 crore metric tonnes of crops were purchased under MSP. In contrast, the current NDA government has procured a total of 96.18 crore metric tonnes between 2014-15 and 2023-24.
He mentioned that the Swaminathan Committee had recommended a 50% profit over the cost of production for farmers, but the UPA government ignored this. Presenting a cabinet note from the previous government, the Agriculture Minister said that they had rejected the Swaminathan Commission's suggestions, arguing that a mechanical relationship between MSP and production cost would distort the market.
DMK's M. Shanmugam has demanded that tea and coffee producers be included under the MSP framework, as they face significant challenges. He pointed out that including tea and coffee under essential commodities has been a long-pending demand, as there is currently no MSP for these crops, and plantation owners have been requesting it.
Considering this, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan said that MSP is provided for 23 crops, and the matter of tea and coffee falls under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Appreciating the issue raised by the DMK member, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar informed that after the allocation of departments, he had called Minister Piyush Goyal and pointed out that some boards and enterprises under his ministry are directly connected to farmers.
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