Telangana’s paddy procurement problem
The Hindu
Why is the ruling Government of Telangana organising protests against the Union Government? What is at the heart of the paddy procurement issue between the two?
The relationship between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Government at the Centre and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Government has deteriorated over the past few weeks over the issue of paddy procurement. The TRS Government insists that 90% of the paddy produced in the State should be procured by the Centre and that the Centre should complete the balance procurement of rice of the last Rabi season. The Centre says it has enough stock of parboiled paddy to last for four years and will not be able to procure more than what has been promised by the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
Procurement of paddy is an exercise involving both the State and Central Governments. The State Civil Supplies Corporation (CSC) along with a few other State government agencies purchase paddy from farmers at the minimum support price (MSP) by opening procurement centres at the village level on behalf of the FCI. They borrow money from banks, with the State Government standing as the guarantor to pay the amount to farmers within seven to 10 days of purchase. The paddy that is purchased is then moved to mills and processed as custom milled rice (CMR) as required by the FCI. For every 100 kg of paddy, the miller gives back 68 kg of parboiled rice or 67 kg of raw rice. The CSC then repays the borrowers/banks.
As speculation over the continuation of Minister for Scheduled Tribes Welfare B. Nagendra in the Cabinet persisted, with the demand for his resignation raised by the BJP in connection with the ₹94 crore scam at the Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation, his Cabinet colleagues came to his defence on Thursday.