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Thousands of farmers are marching towards Delhi once again to demand the legalisation of minimum support prices (MSPs), implementation of the Swaminathan committee report, conviction of the Lakhimpur Kheri accused, etc. However, before the second mass uprising by farmers, the central government had formed an MSP panel headed by former agriculture secretary Sanjay Aggarwal to bring transparency in deciding MSP for farmers’ crops in 2022.
When was the formation of the MSP Panel announced?
The MSP panel was formed by the central government seven months after the farmers called off their protest along the Delhi borders in 2021. The Modi government on July 12, 2022, released a notification informing about the formation of a committee to “promote zero-budget-based farming” and to bring transparency and efficiency in the allocation of MSP.
However, there was no mention of the legal guarantee of MSP to farmers in the notification. “As per the announcement of the Hon’ble Prime Minister, a committee will be constituted to promote Zero budget-based farming, to change crop patterns keeping in mind the changing needs of the country, and to make MSP more effective and transparent and that the committee will consist of representatives of the central government and state governments, farmers, agricultural scientists and agricultural economists,” the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare said in its notification.
Who are the members of MSP?
According to the notification, the MSP panel would have members from the government as well as from the farmers’ community. In addition to this, the panel would also include agricultural scientists and economists.
Former agriculture secretary Sanjay Aggarwal was the chairman of the committee. Other members of the committee included Ramesh Chand from NITI Aayog; agricultural economists Dr C.S.C. Shekhar, Dr Sukhpal Singh, Bharat Bhushan Tyagi, Dilip Sanghani, Chairman, IFFCO, Binod Anand, General Secretary, CNRI, Senior Member of the CACP Naveen P. Singh, P. Chandrashekhar, J.P. Sharma, etc.
What happened to the MSP panel?
As the government is facing vehement opposition from the farmers marching towards Delhi for their unmet demands related to MSP, it has been said that no one from Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) was nominated to the committee.
In addition to government officials and agricultural experts, three members from SKM were supposed to be added to the committee along with farmers from other organisations.
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Published: 14 Feb 2024, 07:22 PM IST
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