UPA rejected Swaminathan suggestion on MSP, says Shivraj Singh Chouhan, triggers row
The previous Modi-led government had set up the MSP committee following a year-long agitation by farmers in 2020-21, demanding a law to make MSPs binding
Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday told Rajya Sabha that the government is still waiting for a report by a committee on minimum support prices (MSP) for farm produce and the government will take a call once its views are received.
Chouhan was replying to a question by Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Ramji Lal Suman on whether the Centre will bring a law to provide a legal guarantee to MSPs in the ongoing session.
The previous Modi-led government had set up the MSP committee following a year-long agitation by farmers in 2020-21, demanding a law to make MSPs binding. An MSP is a federally-fixed floor price aimed at helping avoid distress sales by farmers.
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“The committee was formed with specific objectives. It is to ensure MSP for farmers…also, to give more autonomy to the commission for agricultural costs and prices and to improve marketing for higher price realisation,” Chouhan said.
Chouhan’s reply sparked protests by the Opposition, which accused the minister of parrying a “straightforward” question. The minister shot back, saying the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh-led government had rejected the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendation that MSPs should offer 50% returns over costs of cultivation.
Citing a cabinet note from July 28, 2007, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister said the Congress-led government refused to implement the MSP suggestion, adding it could distort the market.
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“On the Swaminathan report’s recommendation that MSP should give 50% returns over costs, the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government clearly stated, and I’m quoting Cabinet notes, that implementing this suggestion can create market distortions,” Chouhan said.
Heated arguments swirled around the Swaminathan report as lawmaker Suman, in his question, asked if the Centre was going to give legal guarantee for MSPs “as per Swaminathan committee recommendation.
However, the Swaminathan panel never mentioned a law to back MSPs. But it did recommend that MSPs should be at least 50% more than the weighted average cost of production. In the 2018-19 Budget, the Modi government announced that MSPs will be fixed such that cultivators get 50% returns.
Congress MP Randeep Singh Surjewala protested, saying the minister was digressing instead of answering a specific question. Suman asked, “How long will you wait for the MSP committee? Will you give a legal guarantee or not?”
“Farmers are like God for us. Under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, our government will spare no efforts to improve farm incomes and double them,” Chouhan said amid the ruckus.
The Swaminathan panel, officially the National Commission on Farmers, was set up by the Manmohan Singh government to make agriculture productive. It submitted five reports between December 2004 and October 2006.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, in a post on X, said the farm minister was asked a “direct and straight-forward question, but for 30 minutes he stonewalled and went round and round in order to avoid answering the question”.