• Abhay Dubey

"They only mislead people with meetings - they do not enact a law on support price!” The BJP government of the country is burning in the fire of vengeance against the farmers to such an extent that first it brings an ordinance to snatch their land rights, then makes cruel black laws of agriculture, then puts nails and thorns in their path, keeps bleeding their heads and now when they demand their legal right to the price of crops, it just keeps giving dates after dates.

On July 12, 2022, the Government of India constituted a committee to make MSP effective and transparent, in which it was also said to give more autonomy to the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices.

Till February 22, 2025, 7 meetings of this committee were held and 39 meetings of its sub-committees have been held so far. In this meeting, the country’s Agriculture Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chauhan while talking to the media said that the next meeting has been scheduled on March 19. Along with this, news was also published in the media that the government has asked the farmer organizations to provide more authentic evidence to give them legal rights to the support price.

It is unfortunate that despite having all the evidence, the government only wants to waste time harassing the farmers. It does not want to give the farmers their rights.

The Congress Party is presenting some evidence to the BJP government at the Center for the legal right to MSP, which the government already has.

Parliamentary Committee’s appeal-Give legal right to MSP:

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture (2024-25) presented its report in the House on 17 December 2024, in which, citing the meeting of 13 November 2024, it has been clearly stated that unless legal guarantee of MSP is given, farmers are not going to benefit.

War on MSP - Dispute on legal rights:

The committee also said with evidence that we have seen your procurement data. Although the government claims to buy crops - 22 crops at the support price, the truth is that only .05 percent of the total 100 percent crops are purchased. Giving an example, the committee said that in the year 2022-2023, 23 percent wheat was purchased, but only 0.37 percent gram was purchased. Rapeseed was purchased 9.19 percent. Sunflower was not purchased at all.

States did not align with the cost of CACP- The committee listed the shortcomings:

The Parliamentary Committee also said that the cost of crops varies in different states, which is not evaluated properly in view of MSP.

CACP itself has admitted on page number 120 of its Rabi Marketing Season 2024-25 report that the cost price has been evaluated for wheat in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan and for gram in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana. For rapeseed and mustard, the cost price given by the states is higher than CACP in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

For wheat, Maharashtra said that the cost in its state is Rs. 3527 per quintal and it should be given the support price of wheat at Rs. 4461 per quintal. Similarly, Maharashtra is the second largest state in the country in the production of gram. It said that the cost of gram is Rs. 5402 per quintal and it should be given the support price of Rs. 7119 per quintal. But the Modi government rejected the demand of almost all the states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jharkhand.

MSP should be as per Swaminathan:

The Political Committee also said that the support price is not given as per Swaminathan recommendation of C2+50 percent and has also recommended the implementation of this formula. The Modi government recently announced the support price of crops for the Rabi season 2025-26. This increase is only 2.4 to 7 percent compared to last year. The difference between Swaminathan’s support price and Modi government’s support price is clearly visible in the chart given below.

Decreasing agriculture budget in total budget:

Year after year Modi government is reducing the agriculture budget in total budget. (in crores) Ministry/ Deptt. Name FY Department of Agriculture, and Farmers Welfare % Share of Deptt. w.r.t. Total Central Plan GOI’s Total Budget Outlay 2020-21 134399.77 4.41 3042230.09 2021-22 123017.57 3.53 3483235.63 2022-23 124000.00 3.14 3944908.67 2023-24 115531.79 2.57 4503097.45 2024-25 122528.77 2.54 4820512.00

Made headlines but did not spend: Modi government made headlines with its huge agriculture budget but did not spend it in the interest of farmers.

Year BE (Cr.) Surrendered (Cr.) 2018-19 57600.00 21043.85 2019-20 130485.00 34518.00 2020-21 134399.77 23824.54 2021-22 123017.57 5152.60 2022-23 124000.00 21005.13 2023-24 115531.79 4908.60 Total 110452.72

Dalits are harmed by the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan:

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare of the Government of India has dealt a blow to the Scheduled Caste farmers by making huge cuts in the schemes meant for their rights.

Year BE RE Actuals Shortfall-RE Utilization % w.r.t. RE 2020-21 22212.43 19289.04 13286.58 8925.85 68.88 % 2021-22 20322.89 19474.79 12790.24 7532.65 65.68 % 2022-23 20472.12 18165.61 11110.40 9361.72 61.16 % 2023-24 18894.60 19501.60 12369.95 7131.65 63.43 %

Modi Ji’s lies are the strongest:

Recently, soybean farmers in the entire country including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh raised their voice that their soybean is being sold at prices much lower than the support price. Then during the Maharashtra elections, Modi ji promised the farmers of Maharashtra that he will buy their soybean at Rs. 6000/- per quintal, but cheating the farmers, the soybean was not purchased from them at Rs. 6000/- per quintal.

(QTY. in MT)

Commodity States Quantity Sanctioned by GOI Procurement Procurement Period Approved by Government Soyabean MSP RS. 4892/QTL Maharashtra 1308238 836741.29 15-10-2024 to 06-02-2025 Madhya Pradesh 1368045 388796.24 25-10-2024 to 02-01-2025

On one hand, the Modi government has increased the cost of farming by Rs. 25,000 per hectare in the last 9 years, while on the other hand it pretended to give Rs. 6,000 per farmer per year. The 69th report of the Standing Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare revealed that since 2017, the Agriculture Ministry has been continuously telling the Modi government that GST should be reduced or removed on machines used in farming, agricultural equipment, tractors, power tillers, harvesters, etc. But the Modi government has not listened till date.

Article based on Press Briefing on February 28, 2025