Farmers Movement Archive

FCI specifications are attack against Punjab, claims SKM

Bathinda: Reacting to various specifications in procurement of wheat and paddy set anew by the Food Corporation of India (FCI), the 30 agri organisations of Punjab in a meeting on Thursday declared that farmers of Punjab will not submit the land record related papers. The farm organisations also urged the farmers of Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and other states not to submit their records. In this regard, a memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister will soon be handed over to all mandi secretaries. The Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) has severely opposed the FCI move of tightening procurement specifications for foodgrain and stated that this defied the many decades of procurement work. The morcha stated that FCI was proposing that moisture content be brought down to 12% from 14% in wheat, foreign matter reduced to 0.5% from 0.75%, slightly damaged grain decreased from 4% to 2%, and prevalence of shrivelled and broken grains from 6% to 4%. The proposals for uniform specifications of foodgrain for procurement under central pool also mentions that from now on there can be no prevalence of other foodgrain in wheat whereas till now it was allowed up to 2%. SKM in a statement released on Thursday said FCI was seeking land records details to set up DBT of the price for procured grain, knowing fully well that the actual cultivators in many cases were different from the land owners. The morcha said these moves was an attack on the ongoing movement and on Punjab which was on the forefront of the struggle. “Punjab and Haryana farmers will resist this very strongly and will chalk out a strategy for the same,” said SKM. The morcha has decided to mark the Muzara Lehar Shahadat Diwas on Friday to highlight the plight of tenant farmers all over India, in addition to expressing its resistance to FCI’s changed procurement norms and specifications. SKM constituent Jai Kisan Andolan claimed farmers were receiving significantly lower prices than the MSP promised by the government in different markets for channa/gram in states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Gujarat. The farmers on the count have got nearly Rs 140 crore less in just the first fortnight of March in just this one crop.

The Times of India

2021-03-19

Chandigarh