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2 Union ministers may lead Feb 14 farm talks

Jan 21, 2025 03:51 AM IST

The central team is likely to make a presentation to the farm unions on “concrete steps” being taken to ratchet up agricultural incomes and output

The proposed talks between protesting farmer unions and the Centre slated for February 14 will likely be led by one or two Union ministers, along with their counterparts from Punjab and Haryana, a person aware of the matter said, as farmers prepared a 13-point charter of demands, including guaranteed minimum support prices (MSP) and farm-loan waiver.

Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher addresses the media at Shambhu border in Patiala district of Punjab. (PTI)
Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher addresses the media at Shambhu border in Patiala district of Punjab. (PTI)

The central team, which will include bureaucrats, is likely to make a presentation to the farm unions on “concrete steps” being taken to ratchet up agricultural incomes and output, the person cited above said.

“We want a legal guarantee for MSPs. The Centre is scheduled to hold the talks in Chandigarh or any convenient location in the state but we want the talks to be held in Delhi,” said Gurdeep Singh Chahal, a member of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Dalewal), which is part of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political).

MSPs are a federally fixed floor price for farm commodities aimed at preventing distress sales. The government buys cereals at MSP rates, which therefore become a benchmark price for private traders. MSPs are largely effective for cereals because the government only buys food grains in sufficiently large quantities.

Last week, the Centre had reached out to leaders of the SNM(NP) as well as Kisan Mazdoor Sangh led by Sarwan Singh Pandher, the two groups leading a farmers’ agitation. “We have finalized a set of 13 demands but it is open to revision and additions,” a farm leader said, requesting anonymity.

The unions will also demand a farm-loan waiver that should include “all outstanding loans” and exemption to the farm sector from anti-pollution norms, the union leader said. Agriculture contributes about 18% of the country’s gross domestic product and farmers say their incomes are buffeted by rising costs and lack of profitable prices.

The government revises MSPs every season such that these are at least 1.5 times over production costs. In other words, MSPs offer a minimum of 50% returns over cost. However, farm unions want the government to adopt a broader measure of cultivation costs, known as C2, while calculating MSPs, the farm leader cited above said.

The “C2 formula” includes actual paid-out costs on seeds and fertilisers etc plus the imputed value of family labour and rent, besides interest on owned land and capital. “That is what the Swaminathan Committee recommended,” the agriculturist said.

Currently, the Centre uses the “A2” formula, a narrower measure that includes all out-of-pocket expenses, plus the value of family labour, to fix MSP.

Farmers also want continuation of power subsidy, which should not be paid as direct benefit transfer, or cash payments. Another key issue which the farm groups will bring up during the talks is a “withdrawal” from the World Trade Organisation from all agriculture-related matters, the farm leader added.

“Agriculture broadly needs a combination of reforms, investments, support prices and subsidies. Emphasis on one form of solution over others will not help. Both sides should work out a solution which ensures all these go hand in hand,” said economist K Mani, a retired professor at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.

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