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.
Though living in 'forced exile' within their own state for over three decades now, the longing to return to their homeland in the turmoil-hit Kashmir Valley has not waned among a majority of the Kashmiri Pandits in this Hindu-dominated town.
Now with the scrapping of Article 370 and 35A, which prevented them to settle permanently and own property, will automatically become the residents of this state.
An account of a fortnight-old encounter that brought two siblings face-to-face during an anti-Maoist operation has come to light now. The cop brother and his Maoist sister exchanged fire before the latter escaped into the forests of the Maoist affected Sukma region in Chhatisgarh.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will lead a delegation of the Ravidas community to meet the Prime Minister for the resolution of the crisis triggered by the demolition of their historic temple in Delhi's Tughlakabad area.
Television actress Shweta Tiwari's daughter Palak has responded to reports of "molestation" by her stepfather, Abhinav Kohli. She says Kohli never "physically molested" her or "touched inappropriately".
