CM Saini Sets ₹2,900/Quintal Bajra Price, Tightens Miller Rules
Synopsis
Key Takeaways
Before the kharif harvest reaches Haryana's mandis, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has moved to lock in prices and close the loopholes — chairing a high-level procurement review meeting on Friday, 25 September 2026 that set a floor price for bajra at ₹2,900 per quintal under the state's flagship farmer-protection scheme and ordered a fast-tracked registration drive for rice millers ahead of the paddy arrival season.
₹2,900 Per Quintal and the Bhavantar Bharpai Yojana Shield
The centrepiece of the meeting was a firm directive to ensure bajra procurement at ₹2,900 per quintal under the Bhavantar Bharpai Yojana — the state scheme launched in 2018 that compensates farmers directly when market prices fall below the notified support rate. The mechanism acts as a financial safety net: if a farmer sells in the open market at a lower price, the state plugs the gap. Saini's instruction effectively guarantees that no Haryana bajra grower walks away shortchanged in this procurement cycle.
Rice Miller Registrations and the Blacklist Barrier
On the paddy side, the CM directed officials to complete rice miller registrations without delay so that the procurement machinery is ready before peak arrivals. The directive came with a sharp rider: millers who were found involved in past irregularities — identified through earlier audits — will be strictly barred from fresh registration. Haryana has tightened these norms periodically during kharif seasons, but the explicit re-emphasis signals zero tolerance for a repeat of procurement fraud that has drawn scrutiny in previous years.
Curbing Out-of-State Bajra to Protect Local Growers
A third strand of the meeting addressed a recurring pressure point: bajra flowing in from outside Haryana and competing with — or displacing — the local crop in procurement queues. Saini ordered effective controls on inter-state bajra movement, a measure designed to ensure that the price guarantee and procurement benefits reach the state's own farmers first. This kind of inter-state movement restriction recurs in the state's procurement playbook during high-arrival periods and directly addresses distress-sale risk for local cultivators.
Saini framed the entire exercise in plain terms: 'hamari prathamikta hai ki Haryana ke kisanon ko fasal bechne mein kisi bhi prakar ki pareshani na ho' ('our priority is that Haryana's farmers face no difficulty whatsoever in selling their crop') — and that fair value reaches them on time. With the procurement window opening imminently, the real test is execution speed on miller registrations and mandi readiness across the state's grain belt.