Farmer leaders advocating for a revamp of Minimum Support Prices (MSP) met Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday at his office in the Parliament complex.
Twelve farm leaders from Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Karnataka had discussions with Gandhi on farm issues. The farmers urged Rahul Gandhi to introduce a private member bill to fulfill longstanding demands of farmers. Such as the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations.
Regarding the issue of farmers being denied entry to Parliament, Rahul Gandhi commented on X, stating, “We invited them… but they are not allowing them inside Parliament. They are farmers, maybe this is why…” Mr. Gandhi added, “…you will have to ask the Prime Minister the reason for this…”
Senior Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Deepender Singh Hooda were also part of the meeting. Along with MPs Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa.
Farmer unions across the country are advocating for MSP — a guaranteed purchase price set by the government to protect agriculturists from steep falls in crop prices — to be based on the Swaminathan Commission’s C2+50 formula. This formula factors in the cost of capital and land rent when calculating support prices. However, the government is reluctant to drop the existing A2+FL+50 percent method.
In addition to revising the formula, farmers also seek legal backing for this purchase price; currently, the government is not obliged to buy, for example, 10 percent of a paddy crop at the floor price.
Farm unions from Punjab and Haryana are protesting at the Sambhu border near Ambala. The current round of protests started on February 13th, and farmers have been camping at the Haryana-Punjab border since then.
In response to petitions regarding the opening of the Sambhu border, the Supreme Court on Monday directed the central government and the state governments of Haryana and Punjab to set up a committee. The committee will be tasked with listening to various demands of farmers, including providing legal backing to MSP.
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