Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha has never been the kind of politician to mince words. In a missive dashed off to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh she has severely criticized the central govt’s nutrient based subsidy scheme and graphically pointed out the perils of continuing with it.
She has called for an immediate abandonment of the scheme and underscored the need for reverting to the MRP method.
According to her, an unreliable supply of fertilizers to Tamil Nadu has followed the introduction of the scheme putting the basic interests of lakhs of farmers in the state in jeopardy.
She has added the NBS policy has given the freedom and wiggle room to manufacturers and importers of fertilizers to fix the MRP in the way they deem fit. In consequence, prices of fertilizers have gone up by 247 to 262 percent in recent days.
To make matters worse, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister says, the dept of fertilisers has effected a huge reduction in subsidy. Agriculture has become uneconomical in the state and farmers are suffering in multiple ways.
J Jayalalitha has urged Manmohan Singh’s intervention to redress the situation.