Bumper wheat purchase may help UP govt counter Oppn

LUCKNOW: The bumper wheat purchase that it made this year may give the Yogi Adityanath government a strong defence against increasing attacks on several fronts, including the opposition’s allegation that the current regime is ‘ignoring the interests of farmers’, those familiar with the issue said.

The government was said to have exceeded its target and broken all previous wheat purchase records this year, they said.

“As much 50.85 lakh MT wheat was purchased till June 14, which is more than the highest-ever purchase of 50.63 lakh MT in 2012-13,” additional food and civil supply commissioner (marketing) AK Singh said.

“The figures for June 15, the last day of wheat purchase by the government procurement centres, are still not available,” he said. Last year, the government purchase of wheat for minimum support price stood at around 36 lakh MT which fell short of the target of 40 lakh MT. This year, the government has purchased 101.70% of the 40 lakh MT target, paying Rs 8,810 crore to over 10 lakh farmers in the state.

“What is special this year is that we have purchased wheat directly from farmers eliminating the middlemen in the chain and benefitting farmers even more as we did in the case of pad dy ,” said a senior government official. “Under the previous governments, middlemen often used to purchase wheat and paddy from farmers below the MSP and sell the same to the government agencies at the MSP,” he said.

The state government had set up 5,500 purchase centres throughout the state to procure wheat directly from farmers for the MSP of₹ 1735 per quintal from the first week of April to mid June. The promise to purchase more wheat from farmers was part of the BJP’s manifesto for 2017 assembly polls. Low purchase by previous governments often figured in the top BJP leaders’ election speeches. Immediately, after taking over last year, the Yogi Adityanath government announced an aggressive wheat

THE GOVT IS SAID TO HAVE EXCEEDED ITS TARGET AND BROKEN ALL PREVIOUS WHEAT PURCHASE RECORDS

purchase policy. Though the government could not achieve the target in the first year, the purchase was still more than that made during previous years, barring 2012-13.

The bumper wheat purchase this year is being seen as the government’s big achievement, especially when seen in light of the dismal track record under other regimes. For example, during 2015-16, prior to the present government came to power, UP could purchase 8 lakh MT of wheat against the ambitious target of 45 lakh MT, which happened to be just 17% of the target. Similarly, in 2014 and 2013 it ended up achieving merely 13% and 14% of the target, respectively. BJP spokesperson Chandra Mohan said this year’s record wheat purchase directly from farmers by “eliminating corruption prevailing during the previous regimes” showed the Yogi government’s concern for farmers. “This is a reply to those who accuse us of being indifferent to farmers,” he said. “Despite contributing around 30% of the country’s wheat production, UP’s wheat purchase record is still not impressive as the state needs around 70 MT of wheat for the PDS ,” said another official.