The Narendra Modi government has failed to keep its promise to grant legal guarantee to MSP on farm produce, the Congress said on Thursday, citing dilution of terms of reference for the committee constituted for this purpose.
Addressing a press conference, senior Congress leader and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the government has repeatedly failed the farmers. They promised doubling of farm income by 2022; but instead, two years after this deadline, the farmers are in greater debt with it rising from ₹9.6 lakh crore in 2014 to ₹23.44 lakh crore now, he added.
“The government’s intentions to provide legal guarantee to MSP are doubtful. Had they wanted to give legal sanctity to MSP, they could have given it at the first instance and announced it,” Mr. Hooda said. He added that he is reflecting the views of the various farmers’ groups that had forced the government to rethink on the three farm laws aimed at commercialisation of agriculture, with their sustained protests. Providing legal backing to MSP was one of the promises made to these groups in 2021 when they ended their year-long protest after the government rolled back the three contentious laws.
Mr. Hooda, who was the chairman of the committee that looked into issues in agriculture during the three-day plenary session of the Congress in Raipur recently, said the Congress has already made a commitment to the electorate that if it comes to power it will bring a law giving legal backing to the MSP and selling farm produce below it would be made a punishable offence.
He also attacked the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance Scheme), alleging that it had ended up becoming a tool to generate profits for the corporate groups, which so far have earned ₹40,000 crore by misusing it. In fact, the entire spectrum of schemes meant to ameliorate farmers’ conditions have had Budget cuts, he said, naming the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, and the fertiliser and food subsidies to the agri sector.
