FM Sitharaman hits back
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Monday said that the Centre had asked the state to review its existing bonus policy and consider discontinuing it on paddy and asked Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman whether she was willing to place the letter in this regard in public domain.
Hours after the chief minister’s post on ‘X’, the union finance minister uploaded a copy of the letter on her social media platform and said building food security required a constructive, continuous and positive engagement on agriculture with all stakeholders.
“However, CM Thiru @mkstalin appears to continue with what he and his party are good at – draw a wedge between centre and states, create false narratives and project themselves as the protectors of farmers and other Tamil people,” she said.
When essential food items depend on imports, domestic food security becomes vulnerable to external shocks and price fluctuations. That is not sustainable for a country of India’s size. Expanding domestic production of pulses and oilseeds is not only an economic necessity, but also a strategic need.
“Doesn’t he know that huge imports of palm oil is because our demand for edible oil is not adequately met with oil seeds supply. Similar is the issue with pulses. Farmers can get better prices for crops in which there is a supply-demand gap. Clearly, farmers’ interest is not in CM Stalin’s mind,” Sitharaman said flaying the CM.
By encouraging the production of pulses, oilseeds, and millets, India aimed to achieve the twin objectives of “nutritional security” through improved access to protein-rich crops and “economic stability” by reducing the edible oil import bill.
The communication to the states was an invitation to share the responsibility of national food security, she said, and added that state governments across party lines understood this and responded in the spirit of cooperative federalism. “Only CM Thiru Stalin chose to sensationalise it. True food sovereignty is only possible when the Centre and States work together to replace water-intensive surpluses with the essential crops India actually needs,” Sitharaman said in the post.
Instead of wasting time on anti-Centre rhetoric, the chief minister should explain to the people of Tamil Nadu why he was effectively giving away opportunities to foreign interests rather than making us self-reliant in pulses and oilseeds.
PTI