Farmers in India have to pay a price to keep consumers happy. According to official statistics, their daily average income is only 28 rupees. Farmers lost around Rs 45,000 crore due to the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS-Open Market Sale Scheme) launched earlier this year in the name of providing cheap flour to consumers. This is the assumption made in a research paper by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations. Which was prepared by eminent economists Ashok Gulati, Roy Das, Sanchit Gupta and Manish Kumar Prasad. It said that even if we take the all-India average wholesale price of wheat in February, farmers have lost around Rs 39,829 crore due to OMSS.
In fact, before the arrival of the new wheat crop in April, the government used the open market sale scheme as a major weapon to meet its procurement target at MSP and control inflation. Under this scheme, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) kept prices down by dumping 33 lakh tonnes of cheap wheat at prices far below the market price. Otherwise, more money would have gone into farmers’ pockets.
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What price did it sell for?
To stabilize domestic wheat prices, the government sold wheat under OMSS in February at much lower prices than market prices. The sale under OMSS started at Rs 2350 per quintal and was later sold at an even lower price of Rs 2150, which was lower than the economic cost of wheat. The report says that without this market intervention, farmers could potentially earn an additional Rs 548 per quintal.
Who has benefited from OMSS?
In the name of reducing price inflation, the sale of wheat at subsidized rates under OMSS has been announced for the third time this year. But, has it had any effect on inflation? Has the price of wheat and flour decreased? Have you started getting cheaper flour than before? The central government’s own statistics on wheat and flour prices are also confirming that OMSS has no significant impact on the inflation front. In fact, under OMSS the government does not supply cheap wheat to the general consumer. Large millers and some government agencies get cheap wheat. They are the ones making fun in the name of OMSS.
When wheat is being bought from the government at a much lower price than the market, why is the benefit not reaching the consumers? Does this mean that some people are reaping the benefits of OMSS in the name of reducing inflation or buying and hoarding wheat at subsidized rates? Is that why the government has reduced the limit of wheat reserves from 3 thousand tons to 2000 tons?
Why only shoulder the responsibility of farmers?
It is also true that if the price of wheat increases, inflation will increase, but why should the responsibility of reducing inflation be on the shoulders of farmers? Whereas the government itself claims that more than 80 crore people are being provided with foodgrains free of cost or at a nominal price of Rs 2-3 per kg. In this situation, the question has arisen, then for whom the price of wheat is being reduced? If the government wants to give cheap flour then it is very good. Flour should be subsidized without depriving the farmers. Will farmers’ income increase if prices fall?
This is a double damage
Farmers suffered a double blow. While they were fetching good prices for wheat, its export was banned from May 13, 2022, which is yet to be opened. This has caused financial loss to the farmers. After that the prices did not come down and then OMSS suffered. Farmers question, when there has been a bumper crop of wheat, why is wheat being given to big millers under OMSS? Are they selling flour at subsidized prices to customers?
How much damage is not getting fair value?
Agriculture expert Devinder Sharma said that between 2000 and 2016-17, Indian farmers suffered losses of around Rs 45 lakh crore due to non-payment of fair prices for their crops, according to an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report. . is This loss is due to such policies. When it’s farmers’ turn to get better prices, the whole system turns against them. Farmers wouldn’t go to Swiss banks if they got this fair money. It will be spent in the market and will act as a booster dose for our economy.
Did consumers get cheap flour?
Before the introduction of the first OMSS this year, the average price of flour on January 1 was Rs 36.81 and the highest price was Rs 63 per kg. Similarly, the lowest price was Rs 23 and the model was priced at Rs 34 Whereas now on October 23, the average price of flour is Rs 35.62, the highest price is Rs 70, the lowest is Rs 27 and the model price is Rs 35 per kg. Now can you guess whether the consumer got the benefit of cheap wheat in the form of cheap flour provided by the government to the millers under the open market sale scheme? If not found, then it is understood who has eaten the cream of this scheme brought in the name of reducing inflation.
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How the net income of farmers is only Rs.28
According to the latest report prepared by the National Sample Survey Organization on Farmers’ Income, the average monthly income of a farmer family in India is Rs 10,218 per month. But, the contribution of crop income is only 3,798 rupees. Out of this he spends Rs 2,959 on crop production. That is, his net income from farming is only 839 taka per month. If calculated daily, it will be around 28 rupees. A few big farmers may be profitable, but 86 percent of small farmers are in dire financial condition. He does not have the same income as a government peon. Because they don’t get fair price for their crops.
(Tags-Translation t)Wheat Price