The Centre is most likely to come out with an institutional mechanism for procurement of notified crops on minimum support price (MSP) from the ongoing rabi marketing season itself so that the farmers can get full benefit of support price even for the winter sown crops.
Though the government had in its budget announced to implement it from the kharif marketing season beginning October, efforts are being made through consultations at various levels to announce a new robust procurement mechanism soon so that it can be implemented in states as early as possible.
The Niti Aayog has already consulted states and presented three proposals to the agriculture ministry. It is learnt that an informal group of ministers including home minister Rajnath Singh, agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh and water resources minister Nitin Gadkari among others has been examining those proposals.
“I think it should happen very soon. My impression was that the proposal of the budget would be implemented from the kharif (marketing) season. But, we are told that it’s the intention of the government to implement it, if possible, from the rabi season itself,” said Niti Aayog member Ramesh Chand when asked by TOI about timing of the government’s final decision on those proposals.
The three proposals, presented by the Aayog, include market assurance scheme (MAS) which involves decentralised procurement and disposal by state agencies. The states will be required to ensure direct payment of MSP into Aadhar-linked farmers’ accounts. The Centre will bear the cost of expenditure to some point and there will be some sharing between Centre and states beyond that point.
The second proposal is the price deficiency payment scheme (PDPS) - like the one which is operational in Madhya Pradesh. It does not involve any physical procurement as farmers are paid difference between MSP and sale price. The third proposal is about involving duly empanelled private agencies for procurement at MSP. Such agencies will, in turn, be provided certain incentives to do the job.
It is learnt that the Centre may pitch for the MAS while keeping the option of PDPS open for states. It will ultimately be the choice of the states to either go for the MAS or the PDPS with getting financial support to an extent from the Centre.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
