Amidst pandemonium, the Andhra Praedesh legislative assembly was adjourned sine die on Tuesday after it adopted an official resolution seeking higher minimum support price for paddy.
The house adopted the resolution moved by agriculture minister N Raghuveera Reddy urging the Government of India to hike the MSP for 16 crops for Rabi and Kharif seasons and to ensure that the MSP is at least 50 per cent higher than the production cost for these crops. It was also proposed to bring chilly, castor and turmeric under the umbrella of MSP.
The issue of higher MSP for paddy, which rocked the assembly on Monday, continued to dominate the proceedings on Tuesday. As it was the last day of the winter session, the main opposition, the Telugu Desam Party, tried to get maximum mileage out of it and continued its stir on the issue all through the day's proceedings.
Refreshed after their night-long dharna in the assembly premises on Monday, TDP members made a boisterous entry into the house at 8.30 am by holding sheaves of paddy and raising slogans seeking MSP of Rs 1,000 per quintal for paddy. Throughout the sitting, TDP MLAs frequently rushed towards the speaker's podium or stayed put in the well of the house.
On the request of finance and legislative affairs minister K Rosaiah, speaker K R Suresh Reddy set aside the question hour and took up the MSP issue and asked the agriculture minister to reply to reply to the debate on the issue. Raghuveera Reddy said that the government had been trying to reduce the input costs of farming and thus trying to help the farmers. He said that a higher MSP alone would not support the cause of farmers' welfare.
Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy said that the MSP of Rs 1,000 for wheat was not for this year but it was meant for the next crop year. He alleged that the disparity in MSP between paddy and wheat surfaced during the National Democratic Alliance rule. TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu maintained that the disparity in MSP between wheat and paddy started only during Congress rule.
Throwing a challenge at the chief minister, Naidu said that he would quit politics if he (Naidu) failed to prove the fact that a higher MSP for wheat was announced in Congress rule. He also felt that adopting a resolution on the issue would not solve the problem.
The chief minister expressed his readiness to lead an all-party delegation to New Delhi on the issue of MSP for paddy. He said that the government had taken up a multi-pronged strategy for the welfare of farmers and that the government was trying to reduce the burden on farmers by providing free power supply for pump sets and farm subsidies.
The chief minister said that the Jala Yagnam programme for completion of all major and medium irrigation projects would greatly help the farmers. He said that in 16 districts where the incidence of farmers' suicides was high, Rs 2,000 crore subsidy on farm loan interest was given. He added that in the last three years of Congress rule in the state, the MSP for paddy was increased by Rs 185 whereas it was only Rs 60 during the nine-year rule of the TDP.
Chandrababu Naidu, however, maintained that despite having a strength of over 30 MPs and 8 ministers at the Centre, the Congress failed to get MSP of Rs 1,000 per quintal for paddy. "If you are not capable of pressurising the Centre, let all of your people resign" he said.
Meanwhile, the state legislative council unanimously adopted two resolutions; one on MSP for 16 agricultural products and another to protect the interests of Andhra Pradesh in the Krishna-Godavari Basin Gas Reserves.
Moving the resolution, the finance minister said that the MSP announced by the Government of India for 2007-08 for various crops was not in consonance with the expenditure incurred by the farmers. Hence, the legislative council requested the Government of India to enhance the MSP as per the recommendations of Dr. M S Swaminathan Commission and fix it 50 per cent over and above the cost of production for 13 agricultural products during Kharif and three during Rabi season.
By another resolution, the council also urged the Government of India to allocate 50 per cent of the profit from the gas that they receive from the Krishna-Godavari basin to the state free of cost, as the gas reserves are in Andhra Pradesh. It further requested that the rest of the profit from the gas yield be utilised by the Government of India at Administered Price Mechanism (APM) prices for industrial development of the state.
The council also appealed to the Government of India to have a second-look at the gas pricing formula, keeping in mind the affordability factor of each of the sectors, suggesting that gas prices for fertilizer and power sectors may be fixed at substantially lower prices.
The council specifically urged the Centre to ensure gas allocation to all the stranded power and fertilizer projects in the state as well as for the revival of the sick units like Ramagundam fertilizer factory, before allocating the gas to any projects outside the state. It also urged that adequate gas be allocated to the state for city gas distribution.
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