In a significant move ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Union minister for agriculture Sharad Pawar has moved a Cabinet note to seek a substantial hike in the minimum support price (MSP) of rabi (winter) crops for 2013-14, which is even higher than what the Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP) has suggested. If approved, implementation of the Food Security Law would become much costlier.
However, the ministry of food and consumer affairs, though alarmed with the proposal of a substantial hike and the consequent impact on the food subsidy burden, in its note has said that “since it’s a political decision, the Cabinet may take an appropriate decision”.
While the CACP had recommended the MSP for wheat at `1,400 a quintal against last year’s `1,350, the ministry of agriculture has suggested `1,450 a quintal.
For gram, the CACP recommended `3,100 a quintal, which the agriculture ministry has hiked to `3,200.
Similarly, the CACP suggested `2,950 for masoor (pink lentil), which the agriculture ministry wants at `3,100 and rapeseed at `3,150, which the CACP wanted at `3,050.
But the UPA government appears keen to give in the demands of Mr Sharad Pawar in the light of the approaching Lok Sabha elections in 2014 as the MSP hike could replicate the decision of the government in 2009 to waive farm loans, which paid rich electoral dividends, a senior official in the ministry of food and consumer affairs said.