Farmers Protest: Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher demanded on Saturday that the Centre bring an ordinance on giving a legal guarantee to Minimum Support Price (MSP), as reported by news agency PTI. The demand comes a day before the fourth round of talks between farm leaders and union ministers over their various demands. Union ministers Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal, and Nityanand Rai and farmer leaders will meet on Sunday for the fourth round of talks.
MSP is a key demand of farmers currently camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri points of the Punjab-Haryana border.
Stating that the Centre has a right to take "political" decisions, Pandher said, "If it (the Centre) brings an ordinance and it can bring it overnight, if it wants so. If the government wants resolution of farmers' protests, then it should bring out an ordinance with the immediate effect that it will enact a law on MSP, and then discussion can proceed further," as quoted by PTI.
Speaking to reporters at the Shambhu border, Pandher stated that, as far as the issue of modalities is concerned, any ordinance has a six-month validity.
On 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 the "A2 plus FL" formula. "Under the same formula, an ordinance can be brought," he added.
Speaking on the issue of farm debt waivers, 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. The farmer leader further said, "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, as quoted by PTI. The other demands of farmers are also important, he further said.
Farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who was spearheading the 'Delhi Chalo' call along with Pandher, also said that the government should bring an ordinance for "giving something to the people of the country". "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, as quoted by PTI.
On claims suggesting that giving the minimum support price (MSP) on all 23 crops will require 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.
"If the government seriously looks at producers and consumers and gives less attention to corporates, then the matter can be sorted out," he said.
If Govt Guarantees MSP On Crops Like Pulses, Farmers Can Produce Them In India: Pandher
Pandher stated 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, as reported by PTI. 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.
As the famers "Delhi Chalo" march called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha entered its fifth day on Saturday, 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.
Farmers Demands
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.