Farmers have rejected the Centre’s proposal to provide minimum support price (MSP) by government agencies for five years on 5 crops – cotton, maize, arhar/tur, lentil and urad. Farmer union leaders said that this is not in the interest of the farmers. Farmer leaders Sarwan Singh Pandher and Jagjit Singh Dallewal made this announcement after a meeting held at the Shambhu border of Punjab-Haryana in Patiala district of Punjab.
During the fourth round of talks in Chandigarh, three Union Ministers Piyush Goyal, Nityanand Rai and Arjun Munda had given a proposal to the farmers on Sunday.
Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said on Monday night, soon after the end of the fourth round of talks, that, “We will discuss with fellow farmers on the proposals given by the Center and will also take the opinion of experts on it.” ,
The crops that the Center has proposed to buy at fixed MSP include pulses (arhar/tur, lentil and urad), maize and cotton.
It is proposed that central agencies like Cotton Corporation of India, NAFED and NCCF will sign contracts for five years to purchase the crop from farmers.
This proposal has been criticized by economist Sucha Singh Gill and said that limiting MSP to four or five crops will not comprehensively solve the crisis. He stressed the need for MSP calculation for all 23 crops, so that fair prices can be ensured across the country.
Three Union Ministers Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal and Nityanand Rai told the farmer leaders to first discuss their proposal and give their consent, only then the final plan will be decided.
After the meeting, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, while talking to the media, said that if MSP is given for this crop, Punjab can lead the country in the production of pulses and this will be the second green revolution in the country.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that only if MSP is available on cotton and maize, the farmers of the state can adopt these crops.
He said that only assured marketing of these crops can encourage farmers to diversify their crops. Today the country imports pulses from other countries, whereas the farmers of our country can produce these pulses and this is possible only when the farmers get remunerative prices.
