CHENNAI: Denying Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin’s allegation that the Union government had directed the State to withhold incentives for paddy cultivation, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said the letter issued by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, in this regard was aimed at aligning the bonus policies with national priorities and farmer welfare.
Terming the charge factually baseless, the minister said it was “factually baseless, politically motivated, and a deliberate distortion designed to mislead the farmers of Tamil Nadu.”
The Expenditure Secretary’s DO had sent a letter dated January 9, 2026, to the Chief Secretaries, asking them to align their State’s bonus policy to promote pulses, oilseeds, and millets in line with the national priorities for nutritional security, self-reliance, and sustainable agriculture, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.
This was done after noting that the bonus policies were heavily skewed in favour of wheat in northern states and paddy in several states across the country, it said. Such additional incentives over and above MSP further encourage their cultivation, leading to reduced acreage under pulses, oilseeds, and millets, it said, noting that it would put greater environmental stress due to water and fertilizer-intensive farming, and higher import dependence for essential crops like pulses and edible oilseeds.
Enhancing domestic production of these crops is essential not only for strategic and economic reasons, but also for farmer welfare. Adequate domestic production would reduce reliance on imports, which are often exposed to international uncertainty, supply-chain disruptions, and price volatility, it said.
The letter was an advisory to states to shun monoculture and encourage crop diversification, it said, stressing that it was not directive.
“The declaration of a bonus over and above the MSP has been, and remains, entirely the prerogative of State governments. No one has taken that power away. CM Stalin is deliberately creating diversions to serve his narrow, self-serving political interests, instead of adopting a positive approach and working in the national interest,” Nirmala alleged.
Accusing the DMK of manufacturing controversies for electoral gains, she said the farmers in the State deserved a government that works for their prosperity, “not one that weaponises their anxieties for votes”.