MP CM to go on 24-hour fast-protest against fertilizer price hike

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will go on a 24-hour fast titles "Kisan Bachao Aanushthan'' in the state capital here on Thursday to protest against the unprecedented price rise of fertilizers and demanded the UPA-Centre to initiate measures for an immediate roll-back. Eighteen months before the next assembly polls, chief minister Chouhan and the BJP are getting ready to play the same rural-agrarian welfare'' card which brought the party back to power for a second term in 2008.

The chief minister on Wednesday morning shot-off a letter to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi asking for her intervention on the issue when farmers are facing a dark hour of despair ''. He also sent letters to his counterparts in all other states and asked chief ministers irrespective of party affiliation to come together and fight for a roll-back in the steep price hike of fertilizers.'' He wrote that farmers under burden of loans are committing suicides almost every day throughout the country and it is the need of the hour to raise the issue of a 200 per cent sudden surge in the price of fertilizers which would affect the agrarian economy.

Quoting current prices of fertilizers, the chief minister said: The rate of diammonium phosphate in 2010-11 was Rs 527.45 per bag which today before the Kharif sowing season costs 1272.35 per bag. The rate of 12/32/16 (NPK) has increased from Rs 457.83 to Rs 1182.21. The price of 10/26/26 (NPK) has gone up from Rs 434.50 to Rs 1176.90 and the bag of potash has trebled from 267.94 to 890.64.''

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday afternoon, Chouhan alleged that a vertical escalation in the prices of fertilizers'' has taken place since April 2010 when the Centre approved to implement the Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) Policy on decontrolled phosphatic and potassic fertilizers. The policy provided for payment of a sizable portion of subsidy to the manufacturers and suppliers of fertilizers. This policy change, Chouhan alleged, increased the prices of fertilizers in the country by a whopping 100 to 200 per cent over the past 24 months. The policy also made fertilizer prices dependent on the fluctuations of the international markets.

In his letter to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the chief minister wrote: A protectionist and welfare state cannot afford to leave its farmers and farm inputs at the mercy of the market forces. Farmers at this juncture of India's development journey have been made dependent not only on the market but the seesawing effects of the international situations. Whenever subsidy is reduced, this market is quick to stop supplies of fertilizers. When the Rupee gets devalued in the international market, the supply gets choked again in the name of redetermining the rates.''

The farmer in our country is struggling for survival in a world where terms of the trade are increasingly getting contrary to his interest. How can we afford to be mute spectators and see our nation's food growers suffer?'' Chouhan asked reporters. Farmers are already under the burden of debts and now to increase the price of subsidy by 200 per cent would finish our agrarian sector. How much loans can the farmer take and from where?'' he asked.

While Shivraj Singh Chouhan will hold his fast protest in Bhopal, his ministers and BJP MPS and MLAs will hit the districts and their protest demonstrations demanding the fertilizer price roll there on Thursday. State BJP president Prabhat Jha said the chief minister is the elected leader of the party and full support will be extended to him. He will lead this protest and ministers, elected representatives and party workers will follow him,''Jha said.