Farmers set to take hike agitation to Parliament

Criticising the government’s recent announcement on hiking MSP of kharif crops for 2018-19 season as grossly inadequate and misleading, a clutch of farmers’ organisations has decided to hold a series of agitations over the next four months, starting with a march to Parliament on July 20 to “expose” the government’s claims.

The organisations under the banner of All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) have also decided to hold 400 meetings across the country over the next few months to expose what they called the government’s false promise of raising MSP and betrayal of promises made to the people.

“The MSP figures being claimed as implementation of Swaminathan Commission recommendations is blatant fraud on the farmers of the country. The Modi government's MSP for kharif is based on the same formula of A2 + Fl that was given by Manmohan Singh for rabi. This is entirely different from the demand of C2 costs + 50 per cent, which was also promised by the Prime Minister,” V M Singh, convener of AIKSCC said.

He said the government hasn’t yet announced any plan to ensure procurement of crops for which MSP has been announced. “Only 6 per cent of farmers get the benefit of procurement. Only 28-30 per cent of wheat and 30-35 per cent of paddy is procured, while for coarse grains and pulses, the procurement is less than 1 per cent,” the leaders said.

The groups also demanded that a private member bill to guarantee MSP as a legal right should be placed in Parliament at the earliest, which would ensure that every grain in the country must be sold at least on the MSP and failure to purchase the same by traders would invite penal action.

They also opposed any solution to launch price deficit scheme on the lines of Madhya Pradesh’s Bhawantar Bhugtan Yojana, saying that empirical evidence shows traders have taken full advantage of the scheme and have reduced the prices under the garb of the government paying the difference.