Farmers continue to insist on MSP guarantee despite government proposals

Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher revealed on Monday that following the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march, farmers would talk about the Center’s proposal for government agencies to buy cotton, maize, and pulses at the Minimum Support Price (MSP). However, Pandher reaffirmed the unwavering need for a formal guarantee of the MSP on crops.

This statement comes after a meeting on Sunday between farmer leaders and a panel of three Union ministers. The Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, the Minister of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Arjun Munda, and the Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai led the fourth round of negotiations with the protesting farmers in Chandigarh, during which the meeting took place.

Pandher stressed to reporters at the border crossing at Shambhu that farmers will have a detailed conversation about the government’s proposal. He acknowledged the offer but insisted that the demand for a statute that guarantees MSP is unnegotiable.

Notably, farmer leaders are going to the border post at Khanauri, where a farmer, 72 years old, who was taking part in the demonstration, passed away on Sunday due to a heart arrest. At the border crossing at Shambhu, a 63-year-old farmer had also died after a heart attack earlier.

The farmers’ main demands are to have the MSP legally guaranteed, to have the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission implemented, to have pensions for farmers and farm labourers, to waive farm debt, to not raise electricity rates, to withdraw police cases, to provide justice for the victims of the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri in 2021, to reinstate the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and to provide compensation to the families of farmers who lost their lives during an earlier agitation in 2020–21.

“Farmers who grow ‘tur dal,’ ‘urad dal,’ masoor dal,’ or maize will enter into a contract with cooperative societies like the NCCF (National Cooperative Consumers Federation) and NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India) for buying their crop at MSP for the next five years,” Union Minister Piyush Goyal said in a statement to the media after the meeting. He also suggested a formal deal wherein the Cotton Corporation of India would buy cotton for five years from farmers at MSP.

Goyal underlined the other demands’ substance and policy-drivenness, saying that talks on these topics will go on even as elections get near.

Bhagwant Mann, the Chief Minister of Punjab who attended the conference, reiterated the farmers’ demand for a formal guarantee from MSP to protect their interests. Farmers from Punjab launched the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march, which has been temporarily suspended. Pandher hopes for a resolution but warns that if all issues are not resolved, the march will resume on February 21. On the other hand, Goyal conceded that lengthy talks will be necessary to resolve some requests.