PIL before Chhattisgarh High Court for Procurement of 60 Lakh Metric Tonnes of Custom milled Rice from Chhattisgarh State

A public interest litigation has been filed before the Chhattisgarh High Court for procurement of 60 LMT CMR as promised by Central Government to State (Aayush Bhatia Vs UOI)

The Court has sought Centre’s response to PIL for procurement of Rice from the state of Chhattisgarh where, Aayush Bhatia appearing as Petitioner-in-Person on behalf of 21.58 lakh farmers of Chhattisgarh State, seeking directions for FCI to LIFT 60 Lakh Metric Tonnes of Rice as Promised 'in principle'.

The state of chhattisgarh is often called as 'Rice Bowl' as the bumper crop- Rice is grown by 80% of the farmers and they are wholly depended on it, in the Kharif Marketing Season 2020-21 ending on 31st of January, 2021, the procurement of Paddy at Minimum Support Price is estimated at 89 Lakh Metric Tonnes out of which 60 LMT was to be procured from farmers undrr central pool of FCI, as was the assurance, but since the procurement got restricted by the Government of India, only 24 LMT is allowed to be lifted for deposit in central pool which is not just cruel to the farmers but also affects their rights and interests.

The following restrictions are imposed after the centre categorically stated in a letter that it could not purchase the paddy procured by state-run agency MARKFED, in excess to the allotted quantity citing their reasons of state giving bonus/incentives in direct or indirect form, over and above the MSP via RGKNY Scheme started by the State.

This leaves us to a question, for the uncertainty of the excess quantity of paddy in the State of Chhattisgarh, which is based on a token system, as FCI after impoaing restrictions, will only LIFT paddy of allocated quantity and MARKFED has already procured from farmers and have no space to procure any more because of which the centers are shut, villages registered in certain districts where, farmer's turn only comes twice a week and despite waiting for days, despite having a token and sacks, they can't sell their harvest. Coming from far off places, arranging Bardana on their own (which is also in deficit and much harder to arrange), paying for transportation are thus forced to sell their harvest at throwaway prices which is completely unfair to the interests of the farmers.

What Aayush Has to say:
I am hopeful that, Hon'ble Court will intervene in this matter and will help save the innocent hardworking farmers who are non other than the food-givers and will safeguard their rights & protect their interests against these cruel policy decisions. 
Today, The division bench of Hon'ble Court has directed all parties to seek instructions and file their replies in my petition within three weeks. 

80% of the population of Chhattisgarh State are Farmers, who have somehow survived the on-going pandemic but they will find it difficult to survive if they have to sell their paddies at throwaway prices, the farmers should not suffer between the tussles of two responsible bodies of our country at par with each other.