Have hoarders created artificial scarcity of seeds only to sell them at inflated rates?

‘Green gram, black gram sowing completed, while red gram is being taken up and we have enough stock of seeds’

Agriculture Minister B.C. Patil asserted at a press conference in Bengaluru about a week ago that there is no shortage of either sowing seeds or fertilizer for kharif season in the State. And, the authorities in the local Agriculture and Horticulture departments have been maintaining the same position. On the same day, farmers who thronged the Horticulture Department in Ballari for purchasing chilli seeds were lathi-charged and dispersed as shortage of seeds created a chaotic situation. Though a video clip showing police personnel using their lathis to disperse the crowd went viral, the Deputy Director of Horticulture said that it was not a lathi-charge per se but the policemen raised their lathis only to disperse the mob of farmers. A few days later, farmers in Aurad taluk in Bidar district who tried to purchase soyabean seeds in vain eventually dragged an officer at a local Raita Samparka Kendra out of his office and tied him up to the gate to vent their anger.