Karnataka BJP MP seeks cut in sugar recovery rate, hike in MSP
New Delhi (PTI): Karnataka BJP leader Iranna B Kadadi on Friday urged the Centre to reduce the recovery rate of sugar from 10.25 per cent to 9.5 per cent and raise the minimum selling price of the sweetener to benefit both cane growers and millers.
Sugar recovery rate is the percentage of sugar extracted from sugarcane.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Kadadi said the recovery rate in Karnataka has been 9.5 per cent and it is necessary to maintain it at that level, even as the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane is fixed at a higher recovery rate of 10.25 per cent.
He also demanded that FRP be fixed without taking into account harvesting and transportation costs.
"Since 2019, the minimum sale price of sugar has been kept at only Rs 31 per kg and has not been increased. Due to this, mills are hesitant to pay more to farmers. Since sugar is selling at Rs 40 per kg in retail markets, it is necessary to increase the MSP," the BJP MP said.
Kadadi said Karnataka produces about 270 crore litres of ethanol and the state should be allocated more for marketing.
He said 81 sugar factories are operating in Karnataka and the state ranks third in the country's sugar production, accounting for 16 per cent of the total output.
Around 7.5 lakh hectares of land is under sugarcane cultivation in the state, producing around 45 lakh tonne of sugar annually.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
