During the fourth round of talks with farmer leaders, the Union government presented a crucial proposal regarding the minimum support price (MSP), marking a significant development in the ongoing negotiations. The proposal suggests that government agencies would purchase three pulse crops, maize, and cotton at MSP for the next five years, under a legal contract with farmers.
Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal announced that government-promoted cooperative societies like NCCF (National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India) and NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India) would enter into contracts with farmers to buy products at MSP without any quantity restrictions.
This proposal, however, deviates from farmers’ expectations, as they had been advocating for a law guaranteeing MSP for all 23 crops determined by the Union government annually.
In response, farmers did not immediately accept the proposal, opting instead to discuss it within their forums over the next two days before deciding on their next steps. The farmers were represented by Sarvan Singh Pandher, coordinator of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), and Jagjit Singh Dallewal, convener of SKM (non-political), a splinter group of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), which played a key role in the 2020 farmers’ protests.
After the meeting, Dallewal stated that they would carefully evaluate the government’s proposal with their respective forums and experts before reaching a final decision.
