Farmers protest: Farmer leader asks Centre to bring ordinance to give legal guarantee for MSP

Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher. Pic/PTI

Amid farmers protest, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher on Saturday demanded that the Centre should bring an ordinance on giving a legal guarantee to MSP, a key demand of farmers currently camping at the Shambhu and the Khanauri points of the Punjab-Haryana border, reported news agency PTI.

The demand comes a day before the fourth round of talks between farm leaders and Union ministers over their various demands.

Stating that the Centre has a right to take "political" decisions, Pandher said, "If it (Centre) brings an ordinance and it can bring it overnight, if it wants so. If the government wants resolution of farmers' protest, then it should bring out an ordinance with an immediate effect that it will enact a law on MSP, then discussion can proceed further," reported PTI.

Speaking to reporters at the Shambhu border, Pandher said as far as the issue of modalities is concerned, any ordinance has a six-month validity.

As far as 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 "A2 plus FL" formula. "Under the same formula, an ordinance can be brought," he added, reported PTI.

On the issue of farm debt waiver, Pandher said the government is saying that the loan amount has to be assessed. The government can collect data from banks in this regard, he said adding, "It is a question of political will power."

"They (the Centre) are saying it has to be discussed with the states. You leave aside the states. You talk about the Centre and central banks and then finalise how to waive farmers' debt," said Pandher, reported PTI.

The other demands of farmers are also important, he further said.

Farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal also said that the government should bring an ordinance for "giving something to people of the country", reported PTI.

"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," said Dallewal, who was spearheading the 'Delhi Chalo' call along with Pandher, reported PTI.

On claims suggesting that giving the minimum support price (MSP), on all 23 crops will require a huge funds, Dallewal said one study says that a sum of Rs 2.50 lakh crore was needed for this.

Another study suggests that only Rs 36,000 crore is required, claimed Dallewal, reported PTI.

"If the government seriously looks at producers and consumers and gives less attention to corporates, then the matter can be sorted out," he said, reported PTI.

He also stressed that small agro-based industries should be promoted in villages.

Dallewal said the agriculture sector is generating 50 per cent employment.

"The agriculture sector has 20 per cent share in the GDP and if the agriculture sector has 20 per cent share in the GDP, then why is it difficult for the government to give Rs 2.50 lakh crore?" he asked, reported PTI.

"We are demanding a law on the purchase of crops at an MSP. Anybody buys a crop in any state but does not buy it at less than the MSP, it is our demand," he said, reported PTI.

Pandher said that the government was importing crops like pulses from the other countries.
If the government guarantees an MSP on crops like pulses, farmers can produce them here, he said.

He said that at present, the rate of crops, which the government buys at an MSP, is lower in the market and the rate of other crops that the government does not buy at the assured price is higher.

Union ministers Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal and Nityanand Rai and farmer leaders will meet on Sunday for the fourth round of talks. The two sides met earlier on February 8, 12 and 15 but those talks remained inconclusive, reported PTI.

On the fifth day of their "Delhi Chalo" march -- called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha -- the farmers stayed put at the two border points of Punjab and Haryana as they press the Centre to accept their demands, including a legal guarantee of an MSP for crops.

Besides a legal guarantee for MSP, the farmers are demanding implementation of the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, farm debt waiver, no hike in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and "justice" for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act - 2013, and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21.

(With inputs from PTI)