Farmer Protest: Before important talks, farmers request that the center bring an ordinance to ensure a legal guarantee for MSP.
Farmer Protest
Farmer Protest: The fourth session of negotiations between farmer leaders and Union ministers Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal, and Nityanand Rai is scheduled for this Sunday.
According to news agency PTI, farmer activist Sarwan Singh Pandher asked on Saturday that the Center bring an ordinance on providing a legal guarantee to the Minimum Support Price (MSP). The demand is made one day ahead of the fourth session of negotiations regarding the numerous demands made by union ministers and farm leaders. The fourth session of negotiations between farmer leaders and Union ministers Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal, and Nityanand Rai is scheduled for this Sunday.
Farmers who are currently camped at the Punjab-Haryana border’s Shambhu and Khanauri points have made MSP one of their top priorities.
Pandher declared, “If it (the Center) brings an ordinance and it can deliver it overnight, if it wants to, it has the right to make “political” judgments. The government should issue an ordinance immediately enacting a law on MSP if it wishes to put an end to the demonstrations by farmers. Only then can further talks take place
Pandher told reporters at the border of Shambhu that an ordinance only has a six-month validity when it comes to modalities.
Farmer Protest: On the demand for “C2 plus 50 per cent” as per the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendation goes, Pandher said that the government was giving a price according to the “A2 plus FL” formula. “Under the same formula, an ordinance can be brought,” he stated.
Farmer Protest: Pandher stated that the government is stating that the loan amount needs to be evaluated while discussing the topic of farm debt relief. According to him, banks can provide information to the government in this regard. The head of the farmers continued, “It is a question of political will power.”
“They (the Center) are claiming that talks with the states must take place. You ignore the states. Pandher
“You discuss the Center and central banks and then decide how to waive farmers’ debt.” He went on to say that the other demands made by farmers are equally significant.
Farmer Protest: Leader of the farmer movement Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who was leading the ‘Delhi Chalo’ campaign alongside Pandher, added that an ordinance for “giving something to the people of the country” should be brought by the government. “The government should bring the ordinance with such an intention that it is implemented with immediate effect, and within six months, it can be converted into a law, and there is no problem in that,” Dallewal added.
Farmer Protest: Regarding assertions that it will cost enormous sums of money to provide the minimum support price (MSP) for all 23 crops, Dallewal responded that a study found that Rs 2.50 lakh crore will be required. According to another analysis, Dallewal stated that an only Rs 36,000 crore will be needed.
“If the government seriously looks at producers and consumers and gives less attention to corporates, then the matter can be sorted out,” he stated
If Govt Guarantees MSP On Crops Like Pulses, Farmers Can Produce Them In India: Pandher
Farmer Protest: According to Pandher, the government imports goods from other nations, such as beans. Farmers can grow pulses here if the government provides an MSP for them, he added, as quoted by PTI. According to him, the market currently has a lower rate of commodities that the government purchases at an MSP and a higher rate of other products that it does not purchase at the guaranteed price.
Farmer Protest: The farmers remained at the two Punjab and Haryana border points on Saturday as the fifth day of the famers’ “Delhi Chalo” march, which was organized by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, continued. They are pressing the Centre to grant their demands, which include a legally mandated MSP for crops.
Farmers Demands
Farmer Protest: In addition to a legal guarantee for MSP, the farmers are demanding the following: the reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act of 2013, pensions for farmers and farm laborers, waivers of farm debt, police cases against them being dropped, “justice” for the victims of the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri in 2021, and compensation for the families of farmers who lost their lives during an earlier agitation in 2020–21.
