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.
Apart from spending time with family in Chandigarh on the occasion of Diwali, actor Ayushmann Khurrana and his wife Tahira Kashyap are planning to bring joy in the lives of women ragpickers this festive season.
Industrialist Mukesh Ambani and his wife Nita hosted a grand Diwali party here, with celebrities such as Hazel Keech, Sagarika Ghatge, Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh adding more glamour to the glitzy affair.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) on Friday sealed the deal for government formation in Haryana, with the latter's Dushyant Chautala as the Deputy Chief Minister.
As Guru Nanak's 550th birth anniversary approaches, soak in the essentials of what he preached; gain knowledge from the CEO of one of the world's leading investment firms whose views are sought by heads of state
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday congratulated Canadian Premier Justin Trudeau for his re-election but his returning to power is unlikely to augur well for the relations between the two countries.
The United States on Thursday sought from India a "roadmap" to political and economic normalcy in Kashmir and immediate release of all political detainees as it asked Pakistan to take "sustained and irreversible" steps against militants and terrorists in its territory.
