Farmers’ body rejects August 22 meeting of Committee on MSP, calls the panel ‘farce’

India

oi-Deepika S

New
Delhi,
Aug
16:
The
Samyukta
Kisan
Morcha
(SKM)
has
rejected
on
Tuesday
the
upcoming
meeting
of
the
committee
on
Minimum
Support
Price
(MSP),
calling
the
panel
a
“farce” and
said
nothing
conclusive
will
come
out
of
the
talks.

The
leaders
said
they
have
already
rejected
the
“anti-farmers
panel”
and
will
not
be
attending
the
August
22
meeting.
SKM
is
an
umbrella
organisation
of
over
40
farm
unions.

The
committee
on
MSP
is
scheduled
to
hold
its
first
meeting
on
August
22
to
discuss
future
strategies.

In
the
first
meeting,
the
committee
is
expected
to
introduce
members,
deliberate
on
“future
strategies”
and
discuss
setting
up
sub-panels
to
cover
the
wide
issues
mentioned
in
the
terms
of
reference.

Cabinet
approves
MSP
for
Kharif
crops-Full
list
here

Meanwhile,
the
government
is
persuading
SKM
to
take
part
in
the
proceedings
of
the
committee.
It
needs
to
be
seen
if
it
will
change
its
mind
and
nominate
three
representatives,
as
is
required
under
the
deal.

SKM
leader
Hannan
Mollah
rejected
the
government’s
suggestion
and
said
that
the
farm
organisation
is
deciding
on
the
future
course
of
action.

“We
have
already
rejected
the
panel
and
we
have
clearly
said
that
we
will
not
be
participating
in
the
talks.
So
there
is
no
question
of
participating
in
the
upcoming
meeting,”
Mollah
told
PTI.

“The
government
has
inducted
some
so-called
farmer
leaders
in
the
panel
who
didn’t
have
anything
to
do
with
our
agitation
against
the
three
farm
laws
at
the
Delhi
borders,”
he
said.

“We
will
decide
on
the
further
course
of
action
and
decide
how
we
will
hold
demonstrations
against
the
farm
laws,”
he
added.

Darshan
Pal,
another
farmer
leader,
said
that
the
farm
organisation
will
decide
the
future
course
of
action
after
a
75-hour
protest
in
UP’s
Lakhimpur
against
the
2021
violence
case.

“We
are
not
lending
any
support
to
the
anti-farmer
panel.
Our
protest
is
going
on
as
the
Centre
is
reneging
on
its
promises
made
last
year.

“We
are
also
demanding
the
withdrawal
of
cases
registered
against
farmers
during
the
anti-farm
laws
protest
last
year,
compensation
to
the
families
of
farmers
who
lost
their
lives
during
the
stir,”
Pal
said.

Farmers’
Union
refuses
to
nominate
members
for
Centre’s
MSP
committee,
seeks
clarifications

What
is
MSP
panel?

While
announcing
the
repeal
of
three
farm
laws
in
November
last
year,
Prime
Minister
Narendra
Modi
had
promised
to
set
up
a
committee
to
look
into
farmers’
MSP
issues.

The
committee,
headed
by
former
agriculture
secretary
Sanjay
Agrawal,
was
constituted
on
July
18
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.”

There
are
26
members
in
the
committee,
including
a
chairman,
and
three
membership
slots
have
been
kept
aside
for
representatives
of
SKM.

The
members
of
the
committee
include
Niti
Aayog
member
Ramesh
Chand,
agri-economists
CSC
Shekhar
from
the
Indian
Institute
of
Economic
Development
and
Sukhpal
Singh
from
IIM-Ahmedabad,
and
also
Naveen
P
Singh,
a
senior
member
at
the
Commission
for
Agricultural
Costs
and
Prices
(CACP).

Among
farmer
representatives,
the
committee
has
National
award-winning
farmer
Bharat
Bhushan
Tyagi,
and
five
members
from
other
farmer
organisations
–
Gunwant
Patil,
Krishnaveer
Choudhary,
Pramod
Kumar
Choudhary,
Guni
Prakash,
and
Sayyed
Pasha
Patel.

Two
members
of
the
farmers’ cooperative
and
group
—
IFFCO
Chairman
Dilip
Sanghani
and
CNRI
General
Secretary
Binod
Anand
—
are
also
part
of
the
committee.
Senior
members
of
agricultural
universities,
five
central
government
secretaries,
and
chief
secretaries
of
Karnataka,
Andhra
Pradesh,
Sikkim,
and
Odisha
are
also
part
of
the
committee.