"As representative of the government, I know better than the papers. Suppose I
purchase wheat from Punjab and Haryana and if I have to sell it to the entire South
India, my yearly storage charges and my transport charges alone cost me Rs 1,150 to
Rs 1,160 per quintal.
My import price from Australia in southern India is somewhat close to Rs 950.
It is my responsibility to protect the interests of the consumer, and for the sake of
protecting the interests, I have to build up my buffer stock, and essentially in
southern India. For the sake of building the buffer stock, in the case of an
eventuality, I have no choice, I will import from anywhere. - Shri Sharad Pawar,
Indian Minister for Agriculture
I cant understand what kind of nonsense statement you are making. What is this bungle?
It is a simple thing. Our design is that our farmer should get a price; they got a good
price, second, it is our desire, that if in the past five years we have not increased
the price of wheat or rice, it is our responsibility to reduce subsidy, and thats why we
had taken these decisions. - Shri Sharad Pawar to Karan Thapar
Professor MS Swaminathan, the father of Green Revolution in the country, says that India
is facing second agrarian crisis. Professor Utsa Patnaik says India has become the
republic of hunger. Do you agree with them ? - Karan Thapar
Sharad Pawar: I don't say that we are a republic of hunger. But it is true that
investment in the agricultural sector in the last five-seven years, both public and
private, have come down. This has affected the sector.
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