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No changes will be made to MSP: Agri minister assures farmers’ leaders
Leaders of 40 farm organisations are meeting with three ministers from the central government - Narendra Singh Tomar along with railways, food and consumer affairs minister Piyush Goyal and minister of state for commerce Som Prakash.
Minimum Support Price (MSP) will not be touched, said Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar during a meeting with leaders of farmers’ union protesting against the recently enacted farm laws, news agency ANI reported on Thursday. In a response to farmer leaders, Tomar said that “no changes will be made to it.”
Leaders of 40 farm organisations are meeting with three ministers from the central government - Narendra Singh Tomar along with railways, food and consumer affairs minister Piyush Goyal and minister of state for commerce Som Prakash. The meeting at Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan today is the fourth round of talks between the government and the farmers.
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Farmers are protesting against the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Service Act, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. They were passed during the monsoon session in September.
Thousands of farmers protesting against the laws are demanding the government to repeal the contentious laws as they worry that it will end the mandi system and are only in the interest of big corporates.
However, the government has assured that no such thing would happen. Meanwhile, it had asked the farmers’ bodies to identify specific issues that are worrying them.
The Centre also offered to set up a committee to discuss the provisions of laws. However, it has been rejected by the farmers’ unions. Instead, they have demanded a special session of parliament to repeal the laws.
(With agency inputs)
