After the electoral drubbing in Bihar and with an eye on the upcoming crucial Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the Centre on Wednesday in two separate decisions substantially hiked the minimum suppor
After the electoral drubbing in Bihar and with an eye on the upcoming crucial Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the Centre on Wednesday in two separate decisions substantially hiked the minimum support prices for pulses and approved a key new rail line worth Rs 1,766 crores for the poll-bound state.
“The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the substantially high MSP of pulses, including Rs 425 per quintal as the bonus for this year,” said Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh.
Incidentally, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had apparently turned the tide against the NDA in the state polls by twisting the slogan — “Har Har Modi” to “Arhar Modi” — as the prices of pulses shot up.
The CCEA also approved a hike in the MSP of Rs 60 per quintal (Rs 1,470 per quintal for paddy) for the Kharif paddy crop. The MSP hikes for the Kharif crops would come in force from October 1 this year. “The government is keen to give the message much before the Kharif sowing begins that the farmers should diversify crops and look to benefit from the high prices of pulses and oilseeds”, said a senior official of the ministry of agriculture. The CCEA also approved hikes in MSP of oilseeds in the range of Rs 100 to Rs 200.
The CCEA approved the new broad guage line between Mau of North Eastern Railway and Tarighat terminal station of East Central Railway. The total length of this new broad gauge line will be 51 km.
Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the project had been pending for over 25 years. “This project when completed will not only change the economic fortunes of the regions through which it will go in UP, but will give the railways a parallel line to the choked Allahabad-Mughalsarai line for speedy travels of train passengers from New Delhi to Kolkata and Bihar”.
The project is likely to be completed in six years’ time. This project will provide alternative, shorter, convenient and better transport infrastructure to the area separated by river Ganga so as to remove the transport difficulties in the area and to boost the socio-economic development, the government said in a media statement.
