Ramnath Kovind visits Bhopal seeking support
BJP presidential nominee Ramnath Kovind visited Bhopal on Saturday seeking support of MLAs. He said he had a long association with the state as most of his time as a BJP worker was spent there.
Kovind was accompanied by Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaaraj, Union Panchayat and Ruralk Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Union Social Welfare Minister Thavar Chand Gehlot.
Kovind was welcomed by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, his cabinet colleagues and party MPs and MLAs from the state.
Speaking on the occasion, Sushma Swaraj said that party will celebrate the victory of Kovind on July 25 as Diwali. Three independent MLAs in the state have also promised to support the BJP nominee for the post of president.
Meanwhile, opposition Congress has condemned the use of state hanger at airport for party activities. Party spokesperson K.K. Mishra said, “After Amit Shah's blatant misuse of Goa airport, Madhya Pradesh chief minister has set a wrong precedent’’.
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CM on damage control mission after farmers agitation
The violent and aggressive protest by farmers in the state during last month has forced the state government to embark on a massive damage-control exercise.
In a specially convened session, Shivraj Singh Chouhan spoke to a group of select farmers for over three hours. The venue was State Institute for Agriculture Extension and Training (SIAET).
Farmers from all the 51 districts were invited at the institute where they had a free wheeling discussion with chief minister. Four farmers from every district were called for the meet and the objective was to secure first-hand information on agriculture-related problems from them.
Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said that opposition was pressing for loan waiver so farmers must choose between remunerative prices for their produce or waiver of farm loans. He said that his government was working on a model for ensuring that farmers got remunerative prices for their produce.
The government plans to pay the difference between the market price of pulses and the appropriate price decided by the government in a manner that difference amount is directly paid to their accounts.
The issue of quick disposal of revenue matters and demarcation of land cases would be addressed and free copies of ‘khasras’ (extracts from the land ownership details maintained by patwaris) would be distributed from door-to-door. The chief minister assured that poor quality insecticides and seeds selling companies would be banned.
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Govt buys 74 lakh quintals onion, but does not have place to store
Madhya Pradesh has bought over 74 lakh quintals onion from farmers at a price of Rs 8 per kilograms. The decision was taken in order to pacify the protesting farmers. The purchase was done by State Marketing Federation (MARKFED).
After purchase, the stocks were forwarded to State Civil Supplies Corporation which had limited space to store the onions so they started selling it at a price of Rs 2 per kg.
MARKFED procured over 74 lakh quintal onions from 1.33 lakh farmers and it had to pay Rs 592.64 crore to the sellers. The onions were brought a minimum support price of Rs 8 after National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF) estimated the cost of production of onions was around Rs 827 per quintal while the current market price was Rs 525 per quintal.
Meanwhile, the procured onions are dumped at the mandis where they are getting soaked in rains, leading to sprouting. Tons of onions dumped at various mandis are now rotting, posing another challenge before the local administration.
