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SKM rejects govt’s MSP panel
Chandigarh/New Delhi: The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of farmer unions, on Tuesday rejected the government’s committee on minimum support price (MSP), saying “so-called farmer leaders” who supported the now-repealed farm laws are its members
Chandigarh/New Delhi:
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of farmer unions, on Tuesday rejected the government’s committee on minimum support price (MSP), saying “so-called farmer leaders” who supported the now-repealed farm laws are its members.
Senior SKM member Darshan Pal alleged the Centre’s committee looks “bogus” as it does not talk about ensuring the legal rights of farmers.
The government on Monday formed a committee on MSP, eight months after it promised to set up such a panel while withdrawing the three contentious farm laws.
Former agriculture secretary Sanjay Agrawal will be the chairman of the committee. The government has made a provision to include three members from the SKM in the panel.
“Today, we held a meeting of non-political leaders of SKM. All leaders rejected the government’s panel. The government has inducted so-called farmer leaders in the panel who didn’t have anything to do with our agitation against the three farm laws at the Delhi borders,” farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar told PTI. Kohar said the government has also made some corporate people members of the MSP panel.
Farmer leader Darshan Pal said they don’t have any belief in this committee as its terms and references are not clear.
“There is no representation from Punjab in the committee. This committee formed by the Centre does not talk about ensuring the legal rights of farmers. In SKM’s July 3 meeting, we had decided that we would provide names of our representatives for any panel only when the terms of references of the Centre’s committee would be made clear to us. This committee lacks this virtue and looks bogus,” Pal told PTI.
Under the umbrella of SKM, thousands of farmers had held a year-long agitation at Delhi borders and forced the government to withdraw the farm laws.
While announcing the repeal of three farm laws in November last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to set up a committee to discuss the farmers’ demand for a legal guarantee on MSP.
The agriculture ministry issued a gazette notification announcing the committee in this regard.
The panel comprise Niti Aayog member Ramesh Chand, agri-economists CSC Shekhar from the Indian Institute of Economic Development and Sukhpal Singh from IIM- Ahmedabad and senior member of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) Naveen P Singh.
Among farmers’ representatives, the panel have national award-winning farmer Bharat Bhushan Tyagi, three members from SKM, and five members from other farmer organisations that include Gunwant Patil, Krishnaveer Choudhary, Pramod Kumar Choudhary, Guni Prakash and Sayyed Pasha Patel.
Two members of the farmers’ cooperative, IFFCO Chairman Dilip Sanghani and CNRI General Secretary Binod Anand are included in the panel.
Senior members of agricultural universities, five central government secretaries and chief secretaries of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Odisha are also part of the committee.
SAD seeks Punjab’s representation in MSP panel
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday asked the Centre to recast the committee on MSP and include all stakeholders, including representatives from Punjab as well as agriculture experts.
In a statement, SAD spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said the government should have avoided nominating members who were architects of the farm laws to the panel.
Cheema also highlighted the need to finalise the MSP guarantee and guarantee of assured purchase on MSP.
Meanwhile, AAP Rajya Sabha member from Punjab Vikramjit Singh Sahney also demanded state’s representation in the MSP panel. In a Twitter post, he wrote: “I request agriculture minister @nstomar to give representation to @PunjabGovtIndia in the committee constituted for making MSP more effective and transparent as Punjab is the biggest contributor for procurement under MSP,” (SIC) tagging his message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah.
Not assured farmers of panel to provide legal guarantee of MSP: Tomar
The Centre had not assured farmer unions’ body SKM of setting up a committee to provide legal guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP), Parliament was informed on Tuesday.
When asked whether the government had assured SKM of the constitution of a committee to provide a legal guarantee on MSP to farmers, Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar in a written reply said, “No Sir.””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,” Tomar told the Lok Sabha.
Accordingly, a committee has been constituted consisting of representatives of farmers, central government, state governments, agricultural economists and scientists, etc, he added.
