Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday slammed the Union government for ignoring the state while constituting the committee for recommending Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops. In a statement, the CM said it is a discriminatory move as the farmers of the state have been ignored because the BJP- led NDA government does not want to give a platform to farmers of the state to air their views. “Punjab’s stiff opposition to the draconian farm has unnerved the Modi government. This dictatorial attitude is unacceptable and unwarranted as without Punjabi farmers the committee hardly has any relevance” he said, adding that without the state’s representation the committee will be like a ‘body without a soul’. Mann said apparently instead of aiming at farmers’ welfare the NDA government is trying to settle political scores with them by keeping the food growers of Punjab out of it. He said  MSP is the legal right of farmers and if the Union government wants farmers to get its benefits then the farmers of Punjab should have been included in this committee. The CM said without Punjabi representation the committee, with ‘armchair economists’ at the helms of affairs, will not be able to do justice to the food growers of the country in general and that of Punjab in particular. Mann said due to ever-increasing input costs and low returns, the farmers of the state are already reeling under huge debts. He said that the MSP needs to be fixed after due consultation with Punjabi farmers, to bail them out of the agrarian crisis. “So the need of the hour is that the Union government must include Punjabi farmers in the committee so that their interests can be safeguarded” he added.

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