Although the ongoing agitation of farmers against three farm laws has entered its ninth month, India has procured all-time high wheat and paddy, in two successive harvesting seasons, during that period.
As per information shared by Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha informed that the government has procured 869.29 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) of paddy during Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2020-21 and 433.32 LMT of wheat during Ravi Marketing Season (RMS) 2021-22, which is the highest ever procurement.
Some state governments have also recorded the highest ever procurement of food grains in the current year.
Punjab maintains its top position in procurement
"Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttrakhand, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu & Kashmir have recorded highest ever procurement during RMS 2021-22," the minister said.
As per data shared by the government, 132.10 LMT wheat was procured from Punjab, which is the highest in the country.
Punjab, Bihar, Gujarat, Telangana, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttrakhand, and Uttar Pradesh have recorded the highest ever procurement during KMS 2020-21.
With the procurement of 202.82 LMT, Punjab also topped in producing paddy in the whole country.
The states of Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh have recorded the highest procurement of Coarse grains during 2020-21 as compared to procurement during the last five years.
Agitating farmers' adamant on repealing farm laws
Union Agriculture Minister, Narendra Singh Tomar has already said that the government is serious and sensitive towards farmer's issues.
"The Government has been engaged in active discussions with the farmers' unions to resolve the issues. So far, eleven rounds of negotiations talks were held between the Government and agitating farmers' unions to resolve the issues," the minister informed.
"During various rounds of discussions, Government continuously requested the farmers' unions to discuss the provisions of the farm laws, so that if there is an objection to any provision, the advancement can be made towards a resolution of them. But the farmers' unions insisted only on the repeal of the farm laws," he added.
"In all the rounds of discussions with the farmers' unions, the government had stressed that instead of insisting on the demand for the repeal of the said Acts the farmer unions should discuss their concerns on the clause of farm laws so that their concerns can be resolved," he said and made it clear that there is no agricultural crisis in the country.
The Government of India has taken several steps to ensure proper development of agriculture and to facilitate farmers to get remunerative prices for their produce.
Farmers' agitation completes eight months
Ongoing agitation of farmers, under the banner of the Sanyukt Kissan Morcha (SKM) has completed eight months on July 26. SKM - an amalgam of over forty farmer unions, is spearheading the agitation against three farm laws.
To highlight their issues, agitating farmers are organizing 'Kissan Sansad' at Jantar Mantar, a few metres away from Parliament where the Monsoon Session is underway.
