So much has been asserted about the farmer’s unrest. A strong voice of the disgruntled farmers, we know very well enough, rants and rambles. But this falls flat on the ears of the government, as protesting farmers are reportedly lamenting at the Central government’s conspicuous inaction in an entirely different way.
In such a precarious situation, moments of bitterness are coming through wonder and problem. Hot summer winds are blowing, but the farmer’s voice stays before futile laugh at their painful discomfort wherein the perimeters of an accommodating realm was scarcely gaining momentum to prevail upon.
Amidst such feelings, though the much-known flagship programme Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA) amply allows the Centre to purchase oilseeds and pulses from the farmers during the odd time of a price fall, its performance in the view of experts does not get sufficient or more precisely satisfactory impact.
It was declared with great fanfare in the month of September 2018 as an effort to ensure that farmers growing pulses, oilseeds and copra secure the promised minimum support prices for their crops each year. They also think its allocation has significantly declined from ₹1,500 crores in 2019-20 to ₹400 crores 2021-22. The wider difference itself yells at the factual picture.
What causes additional concern about the scheme is that the expenditure under the scheme has been extremely low despite the fact that it has a tremendous capacity of profiting the poor toiling farmers. However, it is possible only after evaluating and dealing with its varied implementation issues.
What must be attempted to maintain is an impressive arrangement of a panel comprising representatives from Central and State Governments and the private sector. The committee will then make a thorough review of yet-to-be the three-year-old scheme. The perfect direction for significant changes would finally come to make it more effective and useful, as experts reckon.
This umbrella scheme ensuring Minimum Support Price to farmers includes the erstwhile Price Support Scheme with certain modifications and rolling out of new schemes of Price Deficiency Payment Scheme and Private Procurement and Stockist Scheme. States/UTs are offered to choose either Price Support Scheme or Price Deficiency Payment Scheme in a given procurement season concerning specific oilseeds crop for the entire State.