Chandigarh, April 11 (IANS) As the wheat arrivals surge across agrarian state Punjab, the total purchase of wheat has created a record in five years, officials said on Monday.
Government agencies have procured 4.3 lakh metric tons of wheat till April 10, against the earlier highest peak of 38,019 metric tons in 2018.
An official told IANS this year the government has ensured that minimum support price (MSP) payments of Rs 138 crore transferred directly into bank accounts of farmers, whereas the earlier high was Rs 6.5 crore in year 2017.
Terming the record-breaking figures a result of the good arrangements, he said the state government was committed to welfare of the farmers and would continue to take all possible steps to facilitate them.
The Central government has fixed the minimum support price of wheat at Rs 2,015 per quintal.
The government aims to purchase 132 lakh tonnes of wheat this season. The procurement of wheat, which began on April 1, will continue till May 31.
Time changes everything. The hardcore face of Hindutva in the 1990s became the "acceptable" saffron leader in run up to 2014 elections and finally being sidelined in the party.
At the time the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was trying to land Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft's Vikram lander on the Moon, suspected North Korean hackers might have attacked the space agency, the Daily Mail reported on Friday.
The dispute that stretched over a century and a half is likely to be put to rest finally on Saturday when the Supreme Court announces its verdict on the title suit of the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi dispute.
New York-based author and journalist Aatish Taseer is ineligible for Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card as he had "concealed" the fact that his late father was of Pakistani origin, the government said on Thursday night.
Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu has been allowed by the government to accompany the Sikh 'jatha' that will travel to Darbar Sahib Gurudwara in Pakistan via the Kartarpur Corridor on November 9, sources said here on Thursday.
