Price-bitten Centre faces grain tussle
- Farm lobby calls for higher procurement rates
JAYANTA ROY CHOWDHURY AND R. SURYAMURTHY

New Delhi, April 2: The Congress-led government at the Centre is caught between the devil and the deep sea over grain prices.

Farmer groups and political parties are demanding an increase in the procurement price of wheat even as the Centre is trying to check an inflationary spiral fuelled by rising grain and food prices.

Sukhbir Singh Badal, the head of the Shiromani Akali Dal that rules Punjab, said: “Our farmers should get global prices for the wheat and rice they grow.”

The global price for wheat stands at over Rs 1,800 a quintal and paddy at about Rs 2,800 a quintal. The government had last year set a procurement price of Rs 1,000 a quintal for both and is likely to increase this by offering a bonus of Rs 100 a quintal.