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<\/div>\nDelhi Farmers Protest: Farmers have been protesting the MSP issue since the 2020\/21 agitation (File).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
New Delhi: <\/b><\/p>\n
The deadlock between the government and protesting farmers<\/a> rolled into a second week Monday, with no definite breakthrough after four rounds of talks but signs of an accord on the horizon.<\/p>\n At a meeting late Sunday the government – facing a second round of farmers’ protests, this time just weeks before a general election – relented on the subject of MSP, or minimum support price<\/a>, proposing a five-year contract to buy pulses, maize, and cotton. The farmers – for whom MSP is a red-flag issue – asked, and were given, 48 hours to confer, and have put ‘Delhi Chalo 2.0’ on hold.<\/p>\n A legal assurance for MSP is seen as No.1 on the farmers’ wish list.<\/p>\n The two sides met in Chandigarh, with the government represented by three union ministers, including Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.<\/p>\n The first signs, though, are not encouraging, with farmer leaders telling NDTV the government must offer guarantees on all 23 crops, and not just dal or maize. Those from Punjab – from where a bulk of protesting farmers hail – have pointed out their share of growing of pulses or maize is, in any case, low.<\/p>\n “There is no benefit to Punjab, Haryana farmers from this incomplete proposal.”<\/p>\n In brief, the following points emerged from the Chandigarh meeting.<\/p>\n Mr Goyal said the\u00a0offer is part of a long-term strategy<\/a> to increase maize production “as a major feed stock for grain-based ethanol supply”.<\/p>\n READ |\u00a0<\/strong>Centre’s 5-Year Formula To Farmers For Crop Prices Safety Net<\/a><\/p>\n It will save Punjab’s farming sector, improve groundwater table, and save land – already under stress – from getting barren, he explained.\u00a0The government – trying to encourage maize and dal is part of its “crop diversification” – set the MSP maize at Rs 2,090 per quintal last year, up from Rs 1,760 in 2019.<\/p>\n Concerns over groundwater have been expressed in the past too; in November last year the Supreme Court warned Punjab to take measures – including switching to maize. This was in the context of a hearing on air quality pollution – triggered by burning of farm (paddy) waste – in the Delhi region.<\/p>\n READ |\u00a0<\/strong>“We Asked For MSP Guarantee For Purchase Of Pulses”: Bhagwant Mann<\/a><\/p>\n An estimated record 346.13 lakh tons of maize was grown in 2022\/23.<\/p>\n At present MSP is offered on 23 crops apart from staples like paddy, wheat, pulses, and maize. These include ragi, groundnut, soybean, sunflower seeds, barley, rapeseed, and mustard.<\/p>\n 2023 prices were announced in June, when kharif crop MSPs were increased – and fixed at a level at least 1.5 times the All-India weighted average cost of production –\u00a0“to ensure remunerative prices for their produce and to encourage crop diversification”.<\/p>\n In addition to a legal backing for MSPs, the farmers want the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations to be implemented, as well as pension for farmers and farm labourers.<\/p>\n The Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations on MSP are worth mentioning, since it suggested the floor price be set at least 50 per cent above the weighted average cost of production.<\/p>\n READ |\u00a0<\/strong>What Are Key Demands Of Farmers That Remain Unresolved?<\/a><\/p>\n This is known as the C2+50 formula, which factors cost of capital and land rent in setting MSPs.<\/p>\n The umbrella farmer body behind this round of protests, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, has indicated it is unwilling to accept anything less than that formula.<\/p>\n MSP is a form of market intervention and refers to a set fixed by the government to protect farmers from a steep fall in crop prices; for example, during a bumper crop when prices plummet.<\/p>\n Essentially, every year the government purchases a quantity of certain crops, the list and prices of which are announced before sowing. The purpose is not only to allow farmers a minimum return on (part of) their investment but also procure crops for the government’s public distribution system.<\/p>\n The MSP is the floor price, i.e., it is the minimum at which a crop can be bought in the market.<\/p>\n NDTV Archives |\u00a0<\/strong>Farm Laws To Be Scrapped. What Are Three “Black” Laws?<\/a><\/p>\n MSPs, however, have no legal backing, meaning the government is not obliged to buy, for example, 10 per cent of a farmer’s paddy crop at the floor price. And it is this that the farmers want changed.<\/p>\n The row over MSP made headlines four years ago after the second of the Modi government’s three “black” laws, which were scrapped after the farmers’ 2020\/21 protest. This law – the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act – said crop prices would be determined by market forces – i.e., farmers would get more for in-demand crops.<\/p>\n The farmers, however, felt this would abolish, by default, the MSP feature.<\/p>\n The government sought, unsuccessfully, to allay these fears<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile the farmers also want debt waivers, no hike in electricity tariffs, and withdrawal of police cases filed in the 2020\/21 protests, when they had violent clashes with security personnel.<\/p>\n Finally, they also want justice for farmers killed in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, and compensation to the families of those who died four years ago.<\/p>\n Protesting farmers are now camped around 200 km from Delhi, with multiple fortifications and barriers – from concrete blocks and barbed wire to nail strips and metal barricades – in their way.<\/p>\n They are, for now, being held at the Shambhu border crossing between Punjab and Haryana.<\/p>\n READ |\u00a0<\/strong>Police Use Tear Gas On Farmers At Punjab-Haryana Border<\/a><\/p>\n The protest began last week; a small crowd at Shambhu were tear gassed by Haryana police officials, who fired over two dozen shells in a warning salvo. Since then, though, the situation has been calm.<\/p>\n NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link<\/a> to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nFarmers-Government Agree On MSP?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Current MSP Scheme<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Farmers’ MSP Demand<\/strong><\/h3>\n
What Is MSP?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Farmers’ Other Demands<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Where Are The Farmers Now?<\/strong><\/h3>\n