201 Recommendations Of Swaminathan Report On MSP Accepted, Panel Formation Post Polls: Govt Tells Rajya Sabha

The statement by government comes after PM Modi had promised to set up a committee to discuss the farmers' demand for a legal guarantee on MSP in November last year.

A view of the Rajya Sabha during ongoing Budget Session of Parliament. (Image: PTI)

New Delhi: The Centre on Friday informed Rajya Sabha that the government has accepted as many as 201 recommendations of MS Swaminathan Committee on Minimum Support Price (MSP) and work is in progress on 200 recommendations. 

While informing Rajya Sabha on the development, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Kailash Choudhary also said that only 14 recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee were not accepted as the decision was taken by an Inter-Ministerial Committee formed in 2007 on MSP.

The statement by government comes after PM Modi had promised to set up a committee to discuss the farmers' demand for a legal guarantee on MSP while announcing the repeal of three farm laws in November last year.

"Swaminathan Committee was formed in 2004 to address the issue of MSP and the Committee had submitted its 215 recommendations in 2006. The recommendations of Swaminathan  Committee were discussed in an Inter-Ministerial Committee formed in 2007," Choudhary said while replying to a question during Question Hour.

The MoS also noted that the details concerning the committee will be divulged once the government gets permission from the Election Commission to set up a committee as Model Code of Conduct is in place in many states across the country in lieu of the 2022 Assembly Elections. 

Meanwhile, Union Farmer Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that the matter of forming the Committee on MSP is under consideration of the ministry and will be formed after the elections are over.

He also said that government is committed to forming a panel on MSP and the Election Commission has said it can be done after the polls are over.

"The entire country knows that the prime minister has announced the formation of a committee to make crop diversification, natural farming and MSP effective and transparent. The government is committed to the announcement made by the PM. The matter is under consideration of the ministry," Tomar said.

Tomar also pointed out that government's MSP procurement has increased in the last seven years adding that MSP has been doubled from the earlier times.

"In the current budget too, about Rs 2.37 lakh crore provision has been made for procurement," he said.