New Delhi, July 19
While rejecting the Centre’s 29-member committee on minimum support price, saying that so-called farmer leaders, corporate members and those who formed the now-repealed farm laws are its members, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha also pointed that nowhere does the agenda mention “giving legal guarantee to MSP, one of their main demands”.
“Even the agenda of the committee does not include provisions for making laws on mandatory MSP for all crops,” farmer leaders said, rejecting the committee downright.
However, according to Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, the government never told the SKM that it would constitute a committee to provide legal guarantee of MSP.
Responding to a question in the Lok Sabha on whether the Government had assured the SKM for the constitution of such a committee in December 2021, Tomar today said: “The Government had assured the formation of a committee to make MSP more effective and transparent, to promote natural farming and to change crop pattern keeping in mind the changing needs of the country. Accordingly, a committee has been constituted consisting of representatives of farmers, Central government, state governments, agricultural economists and scientists, etc”.
The government fixes MSP for 22 mandated agricultural crops and Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for sugarcane on the basis of the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), after considering views of state governments and Central ministries and departments concerned and other relevant factors, Tomar said.
“The Government has increased MSPs for all mandated Kharif, Rabi and other Commercial crops with a minimum return of 50 per cent over all India weighted average cost of production from year 2018-19 onwards,” he added.
The Government yesterday set up a committee to look into issues related to agriculture, including making MSP more effective and transparent, crop diversification and natural farming, eight months after it promised to set up such a panel while withdrawing the three contentious farm laws.
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