Many states had rejected the 'historic' increase in Rabi MSP of the Center, sought to increase
This decision of the government came at a time when farmers in different parts of the country were opposing the new laws. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the increase in MSP as a 'historic decision' of his government and said that it will benefit crores of farmers.
However, the reality is that many states did not agree on the MSP fixed for the Rabi 2020-21 season crops (wheat, barley, gram, lentils, mustard, safflower).
These include the largest producer of wheat and also BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, which had demanded the declaration of MSP according to the increased production cost in the state.
Official correspondence received by The Wire shows that states like Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh had written a letter to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare to protest against the existing MSP of rabi crops and demanded that the farmers get fair benefits. For the state-wise cultivation, the minimum support price should be announced after including all the costs.
The states had said that the slight increase in MSP by the Government of India would not benefit the farmers and they would not be able to get out of the vicious cycle of plight. However, the central government rejected all these proposals.Agriculture Secretary Siddiqui said in his letter, 'Agriculture is the foundation of Jharkhand's economy. About 70 percent of the population here relies on agriculture for employment. It should also be noted that due to Kovid-19, many farmers have returned to the state and are looking for employment in agriculture.
He further said, 'The state is preparing a roadmap to create opportunities in the agricultural sector, so any kind of reduction in MSP will further aggravate the crisis in farming. Many farmers of the state have taken crop loans but due to poor weather, they are facing severe crisis in repaying the loan.
But the Center refused to accept the state's proposal.
Uttar Pradesh
The Yogi government of Uttar Pradesh, which holds the highest share of 31.5 per cent in the total wheat production in the country, had also raised objections to the MSP announced by the Modi government and demanded an increase in it to get farmers out of the crisis.
According to a confidential letter written by the state special secretary Vidya Shankar Singh to the secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on 18 August 2020, the Uttar Pradesh government had demanded a MSP of wheat to be fixed at Rs 2,710 per quintal.
This is Rs 735 more than the MSP of wheat announced by the Center. Similarly, the state government had demanded to declare MSP of Rs 2,380 for barley, Rs 5,500 for gram, Rs 4,365 for peas, Rs 5,150 for lentils and Rs 5,205 per quintal for mustard.
In this, the MSP proposed by the Uttar Pradesh government is very high for all crops except lentils.
Singh said in his letter, 'The main basis for determining the minimum support prices of crops is their production cost. The production cost price of crops depends on the expenditure incurred on human labor, animal labor, machine labor, land rent and agricultural investment etc. in their produce. Prices of agricultural investments have generally increased. '
To assess the cost of production, the Uttar Pradesh Agriculture Department had conducted a survey, which showed that the estimated cost of production by the state is much higher than the estimate of the Agricultural Cost and Price Commission of the Center.
The state government said, 'Keeping in mind that majority of the population of the state is dependent on agriculture and agriculture related business, the state government should declare minimum support prices of crops as per the recommended prices, so that the farmers of the state can get remunerative prices He further said, "According to the recommendation of the state government, on declaring MSP, farmers will also be prevented from migrating from the agricultural sector. With this, by increasing the production of crops, the income of farmers will also be increased. '
The Uttar Pradesh government, while requesting to implement its recommendation, also cited these facts that about 92.8 per cent of the total farmers of the state are small and marginal, who have about 65.8 per cent of the total agricultural area available.
The state also said that the average size of land holdings in the state is only 0.73 hectare, of which the average agricultural land with marginal farmers is just 0.38 hectare. Their food storage capacity is also very less.
Yogi Sarkar said, 'Due to the reduced size of the holdings, their resource and ability to use agricultural inputs are also low, so it is necessary for the farmers to get a fair price for their produce in the interest of farmers.'
But the Modi government refused to accept the proposal of Uttar Pradesh too.
Bihar
The BJP-backed Bihar government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had also lodged a protest against the MSP of rabi crops announced by the Center and demanded it be announced on the basis of increased production cost.
On August 21, 2020, State Agriculture Secretary Dr. N. According to a letter written by Saravana Kumar to the Agriculture Secretary of the Government of India, Sanjay Agarwal, the Bihar government had demanded to declare MSP of Rs 2,583 for wheat, Rs 5,538 for gram, Rs 5,541 for lentils and Rs 5,919 per quintal for mustard.
This proposal is much higher than the MSP of Rs 1,975 declared by the central government, Rs 5,100 for gram, Rs 5,100 for lentils and Rs 4,650 per quintal for mustard.
He said that keeping in view the circumstances of the state, the central government should fix the minimum support price. However, the Government of India also ignored this proposal.
Chhattisgarh
Similarly, in the proposal sent on September 5, 2020, the Chhattisgarh government also demanded to increase the MSP from the Center. While calculating the cost of rabi crops in detail, the State Agriculture Department had asked to increase the minimum support price.
The state government has included several points including cost of labor, interest on loans, rent land rent, expenditure on guarding, expenditure on transport, MSP of wheat at Rs 2,100, barley Rs 1,650, gram Rs 5,000, lentil Rs 5,000 , Had demanded to declare mustard of Rs 4,600 and safflower MSP of Rs 5,400 per quintal.
However, the MSP announced by the Center for wheat, barley and safflower is lower than what Chhattisgarh proposed. The state government said that this is not in accordance with the expenditure incurred by farmers on various items and agricultural costs.
Explain that the Agricultural Costs and Prices Commission (CACP) under the Union Ministry of Agriculture works by estimating the crop cost and recommending the minimum support price.
The CACP averages the crop cost of all states and determines the MSP based on it. Due to this, the farmers of some states get a fair price, but the farmers of many states do not get MSP even equal to the crop cost.
Expressing serious concern about this, various states including BJP ruled are sending proposals to the Center to determine the MSP of season-by-season crops according to the state-wise cost.
A study of various reports of CACP also shows that the MSP fixed for crops is less than the production cost of many states or has increased marginally.
The Wire had told in its previous report how there is a big difference between the MSP announced by the Center for Kharif crops and the proposal of the states regarding this.
Official documents show that various state governments, including BJP-ruled states, had demanded the Center to declare MSP in view of the increased production cost, which was not accepted.
Apart from this, Earlier reported how farmers are at a disadvantage by having a minimum support price for crops across the country and how several state governments, including BJP-ruled states, have announced a state-based MSP from the Indian government. Was demanded.
 |
 of six rabi crops shortly after passing three disputed agricultural laws in September.){kind=link}
0 Comments