NEW DELHI: The demand for legalising procurement of crops at minimum support price (MSP) is not based on sound logic and is infeasible to implement, the Supreme Court-appointed committee has said in its report, which had also flagged how the repeal of the three farm laws, enacted in 2020, would be “unfair to the silent majority” who supported it.
The report, made public by one of the committee members, Anil Ghanwat, on Monday, noted that around two-third of over 19,000 respondents to its detailed questionnaire had, in fact, supported the farm laws (now repealed), considering its benefits to farmers and overall farm sector across the country.
Though the 40 farmer unions, including 32 from Punjab, that had protested against the three farm laws neither appeared before the SC-appointed panel nor responded to its questionnaire, 61 of the 73 farm organisations the committee interacted with “fully supported” the laws whereas seven others supported it with certain modifications.
The report by the three-member committee was submitted to the SC on March 19 last year. The apex court had, however, not made the report public. Meanwhile, the government under the pressure from the 40 farmer unions had got the farm laws repealed through Parliament in November last year. The three laws were enacted by the government in 2020 to develop competitive agricultural markets by allowing sale of farm produce outside state-regulated markets, reduce transaction costs, and increase the farmers’ share in the realised price of an agricultural produce.
“I wrote letters to the apex court three times requesting it to release the report. But we did not get any response. I have decided to make the report public as the farm laws have already been repealed and therefore there is no relevance to it now,” said Ghanwat, president of Swatantra Bharat Party, while releasing the report.
But whatever the 98-page report said on MSP has more relevance now when the farmer organisations continue to pitch for demanding a legal guarantee and decided to step up their struggle for it.
The panel even said the MSP and procurement support policy, as was designed for cereals during the Green Revolution time, needs to be revisited given that huge surpluses of wheat and rice have emerged. It recommended many changes, which the government may find useful while taking calls on other aspects of procurement of crops at MSP.
The panel, comprising farm economists Ashok Gulati P K Joshi as two other members, recommended that the procurement of crops at a declared MSP can be the prerogative of the states as per their specific agricultural policy priorities.
For wheat and rice, it suggested that there has to be a cap on procurement, which is commensurate with the needs of the Public Distribution System (PDS). “The savings from this capping on wheat and rice procurement may be utilised to enhance prize stabilisation funds for other commodities such as nutri-cereals, pulses, oilseeds and even onion and potatoes on open market principles,” said the panel.
The committee also spoke about the need to have a concrete roadmap for gradual diversification from paddy to more sustainable high-value crops, especially in Punjab-Haryana belt. It said the roadmap needs to be formulated with adequate budgetary resources by the central government and the respective state governments jointly.
Broad recommendations & observations on now repealed farm laws:
The report, made public by one of the committee members, Anil Ghanwat, on Monday, noted that around two-third of over 19,000 respondents to its detailed questionnaire had, in fact, supported the farm laws (now repealed), considering its benefits to farmers and overall farm sector across the country.
Though the 40 farmer unions, including 32 from Punjab, that had protested against the three farm laws neither appeared before the SC-appointed panel nor responded to its questionnaire, 61 of the 73 farm organisations the committee interacted with “fully supported” the laws whereas seven others supported it with certain modifications.
The report by the three-member committee was submitted to the SC on March 19 last year. The apex court had, however, not made the report public. Meanwhile, the government under the pressure from the 40 farmer unions had got the farm laws repealed through Parliament in November last year. The three laws were enacted by the government in 2020 to develop competitive agricultural markets by allowing sale of farm produce outside state-regulated markets, reduce transaction costs, and increase the farmers’ share in the realised price of an agricultural produce.
“I wrote letters to the apex court three times requesting it to release the report. But we did not get any response. I have decided to make the report public as the farm laws have already been repealed and therefore there is no relevance to it now,” said Ghanwat, president of Swatantra Bharat Party, while releasing the report.
But whatever the 98-page report said on MSP has more relevance now when the farmer organisations continue to pitch for demanding a legal guarantee and decided to step up their struggle for it.
The panel even said the MSP and procurement support policy, as was designed for cereals during the Green Revolution time, needs to be revisited given that huge surpluses of wheat and rice have emerged. It recommended many changes, which the government may find useful while taking calls on other aspects of procurement of crops at MSP.
The panel, comprising farm economists Ashok Gulati P K Joshi as two other members, recommended that the procurement of crops at a declared MSP can be the prerogative of the states as per their specific agricultural policy priorities.
For wheat and rice, it suggested that there has to be a cap on procurement, which is commensurate with the needs of the Public Distribution System (PDS). “The savings from this capping on wheat and rice procurement may be utilised to enhance prize stabilisation funds for other commodities such as nutri-cereals, pulses, oilseeds and even onion and potatoes on open market principles,” said the panel.
The committee also spoke about the need to have a concrete roadmap for gradual diversification from paddy to more sustainable high-value crops, especially in Punjab-Haryana belt. It said the roadmap needs to be formulated with adequate budgetary resources by the central government and the respective state governments jointly.
Broad recommendations & observations on now repealed farm laws:
- Repeal or a long suspension of the farm laws would be unfair to the ‘silent’ majority who support the farm laws
- States maybe allowed some flexibility in implementation and design of the laws
- Alternative mechanisms for dispute settlement, via civil courts or arbitration mechanism, may be provided to stakeholders
- An Agriculture Marketing Council on lines of the GST Council to be created to monitor and streamline the implementation of the farm laws
- Govt should take urgent steps towards strengthening agricultural infrastructure
