M.P. govt. wants to opt out of decentralised procurement system

The Madhya Pradesh government has sought the Centre’s permission to withdraw from the decentralised procurement (DCP) scheme owing to growing “financial strain due to wheat and paddy purchasing”, with the move drawing sharp criticism from the Opposition Congress on Monday (November 3, 2025). 

Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has written to Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Prahlad Joshi requesting that the State government be allowed to go back to centralised procurement scheme through the Food Corporation of India (FCI). 

In the letter dated September 24, Mr. Yadav said that the wheat and paddy procurement in the State has increased to 77.74 lakh metric tonnes and 43.49 lakh metric tonnes, respectively, in the past few years, and that the State has been facing financial losses with the current DCP system. 

“It is taking a long time to clear the stock, and the State is suffering huge financial losses in the operation of the decentralized procurement scheme due to reasons like non-reimbursement of actual cost from the central government’s provisional and final cost sheets,” Mr. Yadav wrote, adding that his government is also facing problems in repaying the loan of ₹72,177 crore taken from the banks for the decentralised scheme.

“It is requested that you kindly grant permission to the state to operate the centralized procurement scheme in place of the support price decentralized procurement scheme,” the letter read. 

The Congress, however, slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, accusing it of betraying the farmers and pushing them “into a serious crisis”. 

“Due to the extremely complex FCI procurement process, a large number of farmers’ produce may be rejected, forcing them to sell their hard-earned yield to private traders at throwaway prices. The plain truth is that the BJP government is taking one step after another against farmers. Farmers constantly facing hardship for fertilizers and seeds has become a permanent picture of the state,” former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Kamal Nath said in an X post. 

State Congress president Jitu Patwari expressed fear that lakhs of quintals of wheat “will be rejected in the name of quality standards” if the government opted out of the DCP system. 

In its 2023 Assembly Election manifesto, the BJP had promised to increase the procurement price of wheat to ₹2,700 per quintal and paddy to ₹3,100 per quintal. 

Madhya Pradesh Cabinet Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Govind Singh Rajput accused the Congress of “misleading” farmers.

“The government is committed to purchasing every grain of farmers’ produce at the support price. The registration and procurement system through procurement centres and societies will remain the same as it is now. The only change will be in the accounting system,” Mr. Rajput said in a statement, adding that the move will reduce financial burden on the State.