Centre can't discriminate between states in food grains procurement: KCR to PM Modi

The Union government cannot have different foodgrain procurement policies for different states, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.

Rao has asked the PM to convene a meeting with the agricultural experts and chief ministers for formulating a “suitable national procurement policy.”

The TRS is at loggerheads with the BJP-led Union government, alleging that the Centre is discriminating against the state in foodgrains procurement. A delegation of Telangana ministers led by state Agriculture Minister Niranjan Reddy is in New Delhi at present to meet the central ministers and demand that the Rabi paddy crop be bought by the Modi government.

The national foodgrains procurement policy, Rao said, should be uniform throughout the country and cover all the foodgrains. “Further, such a policy should have suitable statutory backing to ensure its implementation,” Rao said in his missive.

“I am constrained to remind you that there is no uniform national-level foodgrains procurement policy. For example, the Government of India purchases the entire marketable surplus of paddy and wheat in some states like Punjab, Haryana but not in other states like Telangana,” the CM pointed out.

The Telangana CM said that “such inconsistent and uncertain policies of the Government of India (GoI) are causing a high degree of frustration and dissatisfaction among the farmers.”

“Our country has witnessed the fury of farmers in the last two years when the Government of India enacted anti-farmer laws.”

Stating that the overall implementation of the National Food Security Act 2013, is the GoI's responsibility, Rao said that the state governments have no wherewithal like storage capacity, the interstate movement of food grains.

Rao reiterated his demand that the Centre should procure “whatever paddy is available in Telangana.”

“The ministry of food and consumer affairs has been disinclined to procure (our) paddy since the last two years,” the CM said.

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