The Modi government has disbursed nearly Rs 76,000 crore directly to the bank accounts of farmers under the Direct Benefits Transfer Scheme (DBT) after procuring wheat from them during the ongoing Rabi marketing season.
According to the reports, the centre has procured wheat at an all-time high MSP value of Rs 81,196 crore during the current Rabi marketing season (RMS). The Centre has said that wheat procurement increased by 5.44 per cent, in comparison to last year’s total purchases.,
Interestingly, for the first time since the country’s independence, farmers from Punjab have received more than Rs 26,000 crore in their accounts directly. Haryana farmers have also received Rs 16,700 crore into their accounts.
It is worth mentioning that some farmers from Punjab, at the behest of the middlemen, have been opposing the three farm laws enacted by the centre to ease the procurement of food grains. In addition to their objection to farm laws, a few sections of farmers from Punjab were also against the direct transfer of the price of the crop to their bank accounts. However, after a herculean task, the centre has succeeded in convincing the Punjab government to initiate DBT in the state.
Punjab and Haryana last states to join DBT, highest procurement from Punjab
Punjab and Haryana are also the last two states to implement direct cash transfer of the minimum support price, and with this now, the online payment system has become universal across the country.
According to the food ministry, about 44.4 lakh farmers have benefitted from the current rabi procurement operations with an MSP value of nearly Rs 81,200 crore.
“It takes two to three days to transfer the amount to farmers’ account since there are so many transactions in a day. The amount released or paid is reconciled within a couple of days,” said an official.
In the current season, the centre has increased procurement of wheat procurement to 433 lakh tonnes, an increase of six lakh tonnes, and almost every state is reporting the highest-ever procurement. Last year the total procurement of wheat during the RMS was 390 lakh tonnes.
Of the total procurement, a major contribution has been made by Punjab 132.27 LMT, i.e, 32.17 per cent of the total procurement, which is also an all-time high. The centre has procured 84.93 LMT (20.65 per cent) from Haryana and Madhya Pradesh 128.08 LMT (31.15 per cent) till June 2.
“Paddy procurement in the ongoing Kharif 2020-21 season is continuing smoothly in the procuring states with purchase of over 799.74 LMTs of paddy up to June 2 against the last year corresponding purchase of 728.49 LMT. About 118.60 lakh farmers have already been benefited from the ongoing KMS procurement operations with an MSP value of Rs 1,50,990.91 crore out of which an amount of Rs 1,38,330.12 crore of MSP have been transferred directly into farmers’ account up to June 2,” the government said.
