News Analysis India

Tag: msp

  • Centre’s ‘sinister’ design to end MSP, food security, PDS to continue: Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday alleged that even after the rollback of three “black” farm laws, the Centre’s “sinister” plan to end assured price, food security for the poor, government procurement and public distribution system will continue.

    He also took on the BJP-led Centre, saying there had been no word from it on framing a law to guarantee the minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced that the government had decided to repeal the three farm laws.

    Sidhu on Sunday said, “Today, as we rejoice in our victory against the Centre’s three black laws…Our real work has just begun. The Centre’s sinister plan to end MSP, end food security for the poor, end government procurement and end PDS will continue without the farm laws. It will be now hidden and more dangerous.”

    In another tweet, the former cricketer said, “The Centre’s design to give procurement, storage and retail to private capital is still ongoing…No word by the Centre for MSP legalisation. We are back to June 2020. Small farmers need Punjab government’s support to protect them from corporate takeover — Punjab Model is the only way.”

    Sidhu on Friday dubbed Modi’s announcement of repealing the three farm laws a “step in the right direction”, but had also stressed the MSP was a bigger issue than the farm laws.

    Farmers have been camping at the Delhi’s three borders since November 2020 with the demand that the government repeal the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

    They have also been demanding a new law to guarantee the minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

  • Fight not over, government must formally repeal farm laws, give legal guarantee for MSP: Punjab villagers

    By PTI

    MOHALI: For 62-year-old Bhupinder Kaur, who has been part of demonstrations since last year against three central farm laws, the fight is far from over, even after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement that they will be repealed.

    The fight will not be over till the laws are formally repealed in Parliament and farmers’ demand for legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops is fulfilled, said Kaur as she along with other elderly women from Chilla village in poll-bound Punjab’s Mohali district prepared ‘langar’ at a local gurudwara.

    The prime minister in his address to the nation on Friday announced repeal of the laws, which triggered a year of protests by farmers, and had also said the constitutional formalities to revoke the laws will be done during the winter session of Parliament, which begins on November 29.

    Kaur’s views were echoed by others as they discussed the nearly year-long protests against the laws while preparing food at a ‘langar’.

    Formally rollback the laws in Parliament and give legal guarantee of MSP on crops, these are the demands, they said, adding that families of farmers who lost their lives in protests, which began last year November, must be given financially compensation.

    The prime minister’s announcement was warily welcomed on Friday by farmers’ unions spearheading the agitation but they said protests will continue till the measures are repealed in Parliament and MSP gets legal guarantee.

    Chilla village has a population of around 2,000 people, and villagers, who are not aligned to any farmer outfit, are actively participating in the agitation against the laws at the Singhu border, attending it in batches.

    The Singhu border between Delhi and Haryana was the fountainhead of the farmers’ protest, which started last year in November, two months after enactment of the laws.

    From there the movement gradually expanded to the Ghazipur border between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and other sites.

    The women of Chilla village along with their children also stand near a traffic light point every day to muster support for protesting farmers.

    Similarly, residents of nearby villages of Manauli, Bhago Majra, Sante Majra, Chhota Raipur and Bada Raipur have also been going to protest sites on Delhi’s borders.

    Bhupinder Kaur, who also has been going to the Singhu border regularly, told PTI: “Till the three farm laws are repealed in Parliament, our struggle continues.”

    Malkit Kaur, who along with some other women was chopping vegetables for the langar, was sceptical about the prime minister’s statement and said the government should formally roll back the laws.

    On Saturday, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi had asked farmers to be cautious till the farm laws are repealed, saying Prime Minister Modi has only made an announcement on it.

    However, the announcement on Guru Nanak Jayanti was enough to get villagers in Chilla to celebrate.

    “Somebody called me up and said congratulations. I thought it will be for Gurpurab but when he told me about repealing of the laws, I left my meal midway and went straight to the gurdwara and announced to villagers that we have won,” Baba Sukhchain Singh, head of the gurdwara at Chilla village, said Singh said it was a fight for existence and collective support of the people proved that they can stand against government decisions which are not acceptable.

    He claimed that farmers have enough ration to stay at Delhi’s borders till 2024.

    Jagtar Singh Gill said people, especially in rural areas, will remember that it took one year for the BJP-led government to repeal the laws.

    The anger against the BJP will not subside soon, he said.

    “Farmers will also not forget that they were called terrorists, Khalsitani etc,” said Gill, claiming that “700 farmers died during the agitation.”

    On the Punjab assembly polls, slated early next year, Gill advocated the idea of farmers to take an electoral plunge.

    Singh said villagers, including women, will go in large numbers to Delhi’s border on the completion of one year of the struggle.

    In Hoshiarpur, farmers continued with their protests, demanding a law for legal guarantee for MSP and compensation to families of farmers who died during the stir.

    Farmer Kuljinder Singh Ghuman of Jatpur village said the announcement to repeal the laws is a big success not only for the farming community but also for the common man.

    Jangveer Singh of Rasoolpur village said had the farm laws been withdrawn earlier, there would not have been so many deaths.

    In Amritsar, panchayat member Heir Sarbjit Singh said, “Farmers are extremely happy with the announcement of repealing of the three central farm laws.”

    Another farmer Gurjinder Singh, who has 35 acres of land near Raja Sansi, said the government should have repealed the farm laws earlier.

    Punjab has remained the epicenter of the protests against Centre — Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

    But in November 2020, farmers from Punjab and Haryana moved to the Delhi borders to press the Central government to withdraw these laws.

    They have also been demanding a new law to guarantee MSP for crops.

  • RLD chief asks farmers to continue protest till there is legal guarantee for MSP

    By PTI

    MUZAFFARNAGAR: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a repeal of the three farm laws, RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary on Saturday called it a victory of farmers and urged them to continue their protest till there is a legal guarantee for MSP.

    Chaudhary made the remarks at a rally in Baghra village which comes under Charthawal assembly constituency.

    On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the Centre would repeal the three farm laws, marking a climbdown by his government to meet the unrelenting demand of the farmers.

    The RLD chief welcomed the Centre’s decision and called it a victory of the farmers.

    “But the farmers’ agitation is not over yet. They should continue their protest to get their remaining demands fulfilled,” he said.

    Attacking the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, Chaudhary claimed that the dispensation has failed to fulfill its promises.

    He alleged that the UP government is spending money on advertisements and not doing development work.

  • Crucial farmer unions’ meet on Sunday to decide on agitation course; MSP issue in focus now

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: After its decision to repeal the three agri laws, the Centre is now facing pressure from agitating farmer unions and opposition parties to bring in a legislation guaranteeing Minimum Support Price, with ruling BJP MP Varun Gandhi also joining the chorus on Saturday saying the stir won’t end till this issue is resolved.

    The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of the agitating unions, is meeting on Sunday to decide on the next course of action, including on the MSP issue and the proposed daily tractor march to Parliament during the upcoming Winter Session, SKM core committee member Darshan Pal said.

    Farmer leaders said the protesters will stay put at border areas of Delhi until the Centre formally repeals these laws in Parliament after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise announcement on Friday and indicated their stir for a statutory guarantee of MSP and withdrawal of the Electricity Amendment Bill will continue.

    “Our call of tractor march to Parliament still stands. A final decision on the future course of the agitation and MSP issue will be taken in a meeting of the SKM at Singhu Border on Sunday,”Darshan Pal told PTI on Saturday.

    While the opposition needled and mocked the government after it agreed to rollback the farm laws, BJP MP Varun Gandhi, who had deviated from the party line to speak out in favour of the protesters, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to accept the farmers’ demand for a statutory MSP guarantee.

    The MP from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh said if the decision to repeal farm had been taken earlier, “innocent lives would not have been lost”.

    “This movement will not end without the resolution of this (MSP) demand and there will be widespread anger amongst them, which will continue to emerge in one form or the other.

    Therefore, it is very important for the farmers to get the statutory guarantee of MSP for their crops,” he wrote and also demanded that Rs 1 crore compensation be given to farmers “martyred” in the movement against the laws.

    Like Varun Gandhi, BSP chief Mayawati also demanded a law to guarantee MSP and withdrawal of cases against the protesters.

    “There should be a new law to ensure the minimum support price for the produce of farmers, and barring cases of serious nature, all cases registered against farmers, who are the country’s pride, should be withdrawn. This should be ensured by the Centre, and it would then be appropriate,” she tweeted.

    The Congress and Left parties have also demanded that a law should be enacted on the MSP guarantee while repealing the three laws from last year.

    Action was also sought against Union Minister Ajay Mishra for the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri by Varun Gandhi as well as Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, who also urged Modi not to share the stage with the minister during the conference of DGPs in Lucknow.

    Violence had erupted in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3 in which four agitating farmers were run over by a vehicle while four others, including a journalist and two BJP workers, were also killed.

    The opposition continued to take target the government over the withdrawal of the farm laws.

    ‘Mahabharata’ and ‘Ramayana’ teach us that arrogance ultimately gets crushed, but the fake Hindutvawadis seemed to have forgotten this and launched an attack on truth and justice like Ravana,” the Shive Sena said.

    “At least in future, the Centre should shun arrogance before bringing such laws, and take the opposition parties into confidence for the welfare of the country,” an editorial in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ said, adding that BJP’s “defeat” in bypolls forced the Centre to take the decision.

    Congress leader P Chidambaram claimed Prime Minister Modi made the announcement to repeal the farm laws without holding a Cabinet meeting and alleged that it is only under the BJP that laws are made and unmade without prior Cabinet approval.

    Union minister General V K Singh, however, lamented the insistence of a section of farmers on a rollback of the reform legislation.

    “I asked a farmer leader to tell me what is black (in the farm laws). You people say this is a black law. I asked them what is black barring the ink (used). They said we endorse your view but these (laws) are still black,” the former Army chief told reporters in Basti, Uttar Pradesh.

    “What is the cure (for this)? There is no cure,” he said expressing his exasperation.

    “In farmers’ organisations, there is a fight for supremacy among themselves. These people cannot think about the benefits to small farmers,” he said.

    The farmer leaders said the unions were discussing the developments and will participate in the SKM meeting on Sunday.

    “We have decided not to leave the site till these laws are formally repealed in Parliament. Mobilisation of farmers on Delhi borders on November 26 to mark the first anniversary of the agitation will continue,” farmer leader at Tikri Border and SKM member Sudesh Goyat said.

    Hundreds of protesting farmers have been camping at important stretches of Delhi’s borders in Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur since November 2020, forcing people to take detours during interstate travel.

    It now appears that commuters will have to wait for some time for any reprieve on this front.

    On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Centre will repeal the three farm laws after the nearly year-long agitation by a section of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

    The Supreme Court has stayed the implementation of the three laws in January.

  • Rajasthan: Police use mild force against protesting farmers in Hanumangarh

    By PTI

    JAIPUR: Mild force was used to push back the farmers who allegedly tried to enter the Hanumangarh collectorate during a protest, demanding procurement of rice on the minimum support price.

    The farmers tried to enter the collectorate to press for their demands but the entry gate was closed by police.

    Some of the farmers jumped the gate and entered the premises, prompting them to use mild force, police said.

    “The farmers were trying to enter the premises forcibly. Therefore, they were pushed back,” Circle Officer Prashant Kaushik said.

    After the incident, the farmers started protesting outside the collectorate.

    “The farmers were demanding the procurement of rice on the minimum support price (MSP). They were peaceful but police used force against them,” said Raghuveer Singh Verma, a member the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha’s Hanumangarh district committee.

    He said that the dharna of the farmers will continue till their demands are met.

  • Bengal’s wrong policies hurting farmers, says BJP leader Dilip Ghosh

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh Friday alleged that wrong policies followed by the state government are hurting farmers who are not getting the benefit of minimum support price (MSP).

    He said the central government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has increased the MSP of some crops by almost 1.

    5 times but it is not benefitting the state’s farmers due to the wrong policies of the Trinamool Congress government and they are being forced to resort to distress sale of their produce, he said at a meeting of the Bharatiya Kisan Morcha here The agricultural policy of West Bengal has been framed keeping in mind the interest of the party workers of the TMC.

    In the process, it is not the farmers but the intermediaries who are reaping the benefits, Ghosh claimed.

    He said the Centre has reduced the price of fertilizers with the aim to facilitate farmers in getting the right price.

    Modi has also been trying to make the farmers self-sufficient and double their income, he added.

  • Take up farmers’ demands in Parliament before any other business: Samyukt Kisan Morcha asks Opposition parties

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Tuesday said that it will press the opposition parties to ensure that the farmers’ demands on the three new agri laws and MSP are addressed in Parliament before any other business is transacted during the upcoming Monsoon session.

    The umbrella body of over 40 farmer unions that is spearheading the agitation for the scrapping of the central agri laws said the preparation for their planned protests at the Parliament from July 22 is in full swing.

    “Farmers and leaders from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and even from distant states like West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka are arriving at the borders of Delhi to participate in the protest.

    “As planned by SKM, the protest will be planned and executed methodically and peacefully, with 200 farmers participating in the protest every day,” it said.

    The SKM said that any attempt to stop the farmers from protesting “will be illegal and unconstitutional”.

    The amalgam said it will issue letters to all the opposition MPs of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on July 17 as a precursor to the protest on July 22, “demanding that they raise the demands of the farmers in Parliament and ensure that these demands are discussed and met before any other business is transacted in Parliament,” it said.

    Farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at Delhi’s borders for over seven months.

    They are demanding a rollback of the three contentious agri laws and also seeking a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP).

    Most of the opposition parties have openly supported the farmers’ agitation.

    The three laws – The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020 – were passed by Parliament in September last year.

    The Centre has offered to amend the laws but has ruled out their scrapping.

  • Agriculture minister Tomar ready to ‘talk on provisions’ but rules out repeal of farm laws

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday ruled out repealing the three new farm laws but said the government is ready to resume talks with protesting farmer unions on provisions of the legislations.

    The government and unions have held 11 rounds of talks, the last being on January 22, to break the deadlock and end the farmers’ protest.

    Talks have not resumed following widespread violence during a tractor rally by protesting farmers on January 26.

    Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at Delhi’s borders for more than six months in protest against the three laws that they say will end state procurement of crops at MSP.

    The Supreme Court has put on hold the implementation of the three laws till further orders and set up a committee to find solutions.

    “Government of India is ready for talks with farmers. Except for repeal, if any farmers’ union wants to talk on provisions of the Act even at midnight, Narendra Singh Tomar will welcome it,” the agriculture minister said in a video posted on his Twitter account.

    Three union ministers, including Tomar and Food Minister Piyush Goyal, have held 11 rounds of talks with the protesting farmer unions.

    In the last meeting on January 22, the government’s negotiations with 41 farmer groups hit a roadblock as the unions squarely rejected the Centre’s proposal of putting the laws on suspension.

    During the 10th round of talks held on January 20, the Centre had offered to suspend the laws for 1-1.

    5 years and form a joint committee to find solutions, in return for protesting farmers going back to their respective homes from Delhi’s borders.

    The three laws — The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020 — were passed by the Parliament in September last year.

    Farmer groups have alleged that these laws will end the mandi and MSP procurement systems and leave the farmers at the mercy of big corporates, even as the government has rejected these apprehensions as misplaced.

    On January 11, the Supreme Court had stayed the implementation of the three laws till further orders and appointed a four-member panel to resolve the impasse.

    Bhartiya Kisan Union President Bhupinder Singh Mann had recused himself from the committee.

    Shetkari Sanghatana (Maharashtra) President Anil Ghanwat and agriculture economists Pramod Kumar Joshi and Ashok Gulati are the other members on the panel.

    They have completed the consultation process with stakeholders.

  • Govt buys record 418.47 lakh tonne wheat at MSP for Rs 82,648 crore this year

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Centre on Wednesday said it has procured a record 418.47 lakh tonnes of wheat so far in the current marketing year that started in April, costing exchequer Rs 82,648 crore.

    The record procurement of wheat has been achieved amid farmers’ protests at Delhi borders since late November 2020.

    Farmer unions are demanding a repeal of three new farm laws and a legal guarantee of the Minimum Support Price (MSP).

    The Rabi marketing season (RMS) 2021-22 runs from April to March but the bulk of the procurement gets completed by June.

    “Procurement of Wheat in ongoing RMS 2021-22 is continuing smoothly in the procuring states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir at MSP, as was done in previous seasons,” an official statement said.

    Till June 8, the government has purchased 418.47 lakh tonnes of wheat as against 373.22 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous year.

    ALSO READ: Share objections with logic on agri laws, govt ready to listen, Union Minister Tomar tells farmers

    “About 46 lakh farmers have already been benefitted from the ongoing RMS procurement operations with MSP value of Rs 82,648.38 crore,” the statement said.

    This year’s procurement has exceeded the previous high of 389.

    92 lakh tonnes achieved in the full 2020-21 marketing year.

    State-owned Food Corporation of India (FCI) is the nodal agency for procurement and distribution of foodgrains.

    Under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), the Centre provides 5 kg of wheat and rice per person per month to around 80 crore people at a highly subsidised rate of Rs 2-3 per kg.

  • Farmer bodies stage stir at FCI offices demanding remunerative MSP for crops

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) and other farmer bodies held protests at FCI offices on Sunday and raised various demands, including a remunerative minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

    The protesters submitted a memorandum addressed to the Union consumer affairs minister regarding strengthening the procurement system of the Food Corporation of India (FCI).

    The demands included withdrawal of a decision to submit “jamabandhi” for the procurement of wheat, rolling back direct payments to farmers in their bank accounts and a remunerative MSP for crops.

    “Purchases should be done on a remunerative MSP and strict action should be taken against buyers who purchase below that MSP,” the memorandum said.

    The process of crop procurement should be completed in the minimum time.

    It should be ensured that farmers do not face any problem due to a lack of bags and other facilities, a statement issued by the SKM said.

    Farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, under the banner of the SKM, have been camping at various border points of Delhi demanding a repeal of three contentious farm laws brought by the Centre and a legal guarantee to the MSP on crops.