The Union agricultural minister Mr Piyush Goyal has been telling the same lies only to discriminate against Telangana on some or other pretext.
He lies about the export of broken rice, says there are sanctions by World Trade Organisation (WTO), and demands only raw rice which were all false.
The broken rice is being bought by China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and other countries. The price per quintal of broken rice which was Rs 1,600 to Rs 1,700 has gone up to Rs 2,200 which speaks about the demand for the same.
Why not the central government procure broken rice from Telangana and export the same?
The WTO only banned the import of rice meant for the public distribution system but not otherwise. There were no sanctions for other means. Even though there were sanctions, why not does the Indian government strive for relaxation of the same?
Mr Goyal also lied that they were paying 90 percent of procurement charges to the states much ahead which is another lie. The State governments were borrowing from banks to pay farmers immediately while the Central government paid only after receiving the rice.
The most ironic argument of Mr Goyal is that they would only buy raw rice when the broken rice production was high in some seasons rather than raw rice. This seems more ridiculous.
These lies forced the ruling TRS government now launch a series of agitations to expose his lies and demand for procurement of boiled rice and Telangana chief minister Mr K Chandrasekhar Rao is also likely to take part in the protest being planned at New Delhi.
By Gollapudi Srinivasa Rao