By Prabhudatta Mishra
Even even though official acquire of wheat from Punjab for the existing rabi season is slated to start off from April 10, the deadlock more than the signifies to transfer the quantity – estimated at close to Rs 26,000 crore – to farmers remained unresolved even on Tuesday.
While state government of Punjab, the hotbed of farmers’ agitation against the 3 contentious laws governing advertising of agricultural make, insist that the payments be created by way of arhatiyas (commission agents) as has been the traditional practice in the state, the Centre desires Punjab, like other states, to shift to the new method of direct transfer of the funds to the farmers’ bank accounts.
The direct transfer method has been rolled out in phases considering that 2018 and as of now, practically all states comply with it. Starting this procurement season, Haryana, which neighbours Punjab, and exactly where the ongoing farmers’ protest gets a lot of assistance from, will also switch to direct transfer method for producing payments to farmers.
Official agencies like FCI acquire about a third of the wheat they procure in a winter season from Punjab.
“Our chief minister (Captain Amarinder Singh) will meet prime minister Narendra Modi soon to discuss the issue. We are hopeful of a solution before the procurement starts,” Punjab’s meals minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu told FE. Though no confirmation has come from the prime minister to a meeting request of the chief minister, it will be held quickly, mentioned Ashu, who is also most likely to accompany Singh to the meeting with the prime minister.
The Centre final month authorized a request of the Punjab government for rescheduling wheat procurement due to late maturity of crop and a surge in Covid-19 situations in the state. The procurement will now start from April 10 and continue til May 31, whilst the earlier program was to undertake it in between April 1 and May 25.
Punjab is however to have a mechanism for direct transfer of payment to bank accounts of farmers, which includes the lessee farmers and sharecroppers. On the other hand, acceding to a directive from the Centre, Haryana has created elaborate arrangements with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for purchases of wheat at MSP. Farmers of Haryana have been registered by way of an on-line portal developed for the procurement and payment will be transferred to their bank accounts.
In a letter to Singh, dated March 27, Union minister for meals and public distribution Piyush Goyal described that the Centre has been requesting the state to streamline procurement and payment process in line with recommendations on direct on line payment to farmers and in compliance with Public Finance Management System (PFMS) considering that 2018. The Centre has been providing exemptions to Punjab on this through final 3 seasons, Goyal pointed out.
Goyal also mentioned that appropriate IT infrastructure has not been place in location by the Punjab government for integrating the land records with e-procurement portal. Requesting private interest of the chief minister on the situation, Goyal had sought “cooperation in implementing Government of India’s policy towards online payment directly into farmers’ account and compliance of PFMS”.
In the existing season, the wheat procurement target in Punjab has been set at 130 lakh tonne against 127.14 lakh tonne purchased final year. Though the MSP worth of final year’s procurement was `24,474 crore (at `1,925/quintal), the FCI had to spend market place charge (3%), rural improvement cess (3%) and arhatiya commission (2.5%) further, which was estimated to be about `2,080 crore. The Centre has agreed for continuation of arhatiya commission, but shifted from payment of a percentage of MSP to a fixed quantity from final year.
In view of a record wheat production of 109.24 million tonne in the nation through 2020-21 crop year (July-June), the government has also set a target to get 42.74 million tonne for the central pool, which is almost 10% more than actual quantity bought final year. Wheat procurement in the nation starts from April 1 every single year and in two months the whole operation concludes.