New Delhi: Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said in Rajya Sabha on Friday that the government is committed to form a committee regarding Minimum Support Price (MSP) and the Election Commission has decided to set up a committee in five states. After the process of assembly elections is over, the committee has been asked to be constituted. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in November last year announced the repeal of three agriculture laws, promising to set up a committee to consider farmers’ demand for a legal guarantee on MSP.
Replying to supplementary questions during the Question Hour in the Upper House, Tomar said that the government had written a letter to the Election Commission in view of the assembly elections in five states. He said that since the elections are on, the government had written a letter to the Election Commission for guidance. He said that the reply of the commission has been received and the committee can be formed after the elections are over. Tomar said that the matter of forming a committee on MSP is under consideration of the ministry and it will be formed after the assembly elections are over.
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It is noteworthy that the process of assembly elections is going on in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa and Punjab. Prasanna Acharya (Biju Janata Dal) had questioned whether the government was considering bringing a bill to give legal guarantee to MSP. Agriculture Minister Tomar said a committee on MSP would be constituted after assembly elections in some states. He said that whatever recommendations the committee makes, the government will consider them. The Minister also informed that MSP is an administrative decision and it is being implemented for many years across the country. Tomar said that before 2018 there was no mechanism to define MSP and make farming profitable.
He said fixing the MSP at 50 per cent above the cost of production was one of the 14 recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee, which were rejected by the then inter-ministerial committee. Prime Minister Modi accepted that recommendation in 2018-19 and introduced higher MSP in the interest of farmers. Referring to the increase in MSP procurement of the government in the last seven years, Tomar said that the MSP has been doubled from earlier times. In the current budget also, provisions have been made for the purchase of about Rs 2.37 lakh crore.
He said that farmers should get the right price for their produce and the government is making efforts in this direction. He said that apart from increasing procurement, the government is also implementing several schemes including PM-Kisan. During the Question Hour itself, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Kailash Choudhary, in reply to other supplementary questions, said that the Swaminathan Committee constituted in 2004 had submitted its report in 2006. Subsequently, an Inter-Ministerial Committee was constituted in 2007 and the committee accepted 201 of the 215 recommendations of the Commission.
He said that the Swaminathan Commission had recommended fixing the MSP at 50 per cent above the cost of production, but then the Inter-Ministerial Committee did not accept it. He said his government accepted that recommendation and the MSP is 50 per cent more than the cost of production.
Chowdhury said the Swaminathan Commission had also recommended the name of the ministry to be the Ministry of Agriculture Welfare, but that was rejected by the Inter-Ministerial Committee. However, the Modi government changed the name of the ministry to ‘Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare’. (agency)