Amid Farm Bills Controversy Centre Increases Wheat MSP By Rs 50 Per Quintal To Rs 1,975

In a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the minsters took to the decision to hike the MSP to Rs 1,975 per quintal.

Image: LSTV

Amid the ongoing ruckus over the recently introduced Farm Bills, the central government on Monday announced to raise the minimum support price for six Rabi crops, including wheat. As per the latest development, the support price of wheat has been raised by Rs 50 per quintal to Rs 1,975 per quintal. The decision was taken in a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where it was announced that the MSP for the wheat crop will be raised to Rs 1,975 per quintal. Informing further on the same, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in a Twitter post said that an increase of Rs 50 per quintal in the minimum support price for Wheat will result in 106 per cent profit to farmers on cost price.

The major announcement has come after the Rajya Sabha passed the Farmers' and Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, amid protest by Opposition MPs. The union minister said that minimum price or MSP based procurement of agriculture crops from farmers will continue and is not related to the farm bills that seek to give cultivators freedom to market their produce. However, the opposition has termed the bills “anti-farmer” and “pro-corporate". Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the nation over the continuation of MSP said, "These Bills will empower the farmers to freely trade their produce anywhere. I want to make it clear that these Bills are not against the agriculture mandis. I want to assure every farmer that the Minimum Support Price system will continue as before."