On the 10th of November, the Agriculture Minister of Telangana made certain allegations against the central government. Targeting Union Minister G Kishan Reddy, Niranjan Reddy asked if the central government was going to procure paddy, insinuating that there was no plan of the govt to do so.
On November 11, the Government of India refuted the claims of S Niranjan Reddy, Agriculture Minister, Telangana. It said that the paddy procurement under the Central pool had increased nearly three times in the past three years. As per the stats provided by the government, in the 2017-18 season, the Centre procured 36 LMT of paddy that was increased to 52 LMT in 2018-19, 75 LMT in 2019-20 and 95 LMT in 2020-21.
The Centre said that during the Rabi crop of KMS in 2020-21, 62.80 LMT rice was procured by the State. 24.75 LMT rice was deposited by the government in the form of parboiled rice, while the rest was deposited as raw. The state government had requested to increase the parboiled rice target to 50.75 LMT from 24-75 LMT as surplus stock under Centra Pool.
However, the central govt already has 3-years worth of stock of parboiled rice with FCI. Still, the central government approved additional procurement of 20 LMT of parboiled rice to FCI for KMS 2020-21 and the rest as surplus in raw.
The government further added that the State of Telangana has set a procurement target of 40 LMT for KMS 2021-22, which is 26.78% more than the previous Kharif season of 2019-20. The State has further asked the Centre to enhance the target during KMS 2021-22, which is under consideration as there were discrepancies in the estimated production by State Govt. and Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture, GOI.
Telangana Agri Minister had alleged Centre was delaying paddy procurement
On November 10, S Niranjan Reddy had asked Union Minister G Kishan Reddy to clear the air if the Centre would procure paddy for the upcoming Rabi season or not. Reddy had targeted the union minister and said that if rice were milled after March, 40-50 per cent would become broken rice.
He further added that the State government would not send any more parboiled rice according to the conditions laid down by the Centre from last Rabi season. The minister said the commitment that the State had made was a result of a desperate situation and not a voluntary commitment.
He also alleged that the Centre was not clearing dues of the phased procurement by 5-6 months and failed to pay the interest on debt that the State had to pay to the banks from where it arranged funds to pay the farmers on time.
