New Delhi: The BJP-led NDA government at the centre has come under severe criticism for its decision to increase the Minimum Support Price (MSP) by 50-83 per cent for 14 kharif crops for the 2020-21 marketing season by the farmers' associations.
The farmers have termed the proposed increase in the MSP as yet another 'Jumla' (a meaningless statement) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader and spokesman Rakesh Tikait told ETV Bharat that the government was trying to please the farmers without offering good MSP for their produce.
"The government has betrayed the farmers. It has not fulfilled the promises made in the past," he said, challenging the Modi government to buy rice crop at the price that it has offered.
Kisan Shakti Sangh has also slammed the government for the revised MSP, saying it was to be given 50 per cent on the cost determined by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) but the government has offered lesser than that and it would not help farmers.
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Chowdhary Pushpener Singh, president Kisan Shakti Sangh, told ETV Bharat that promises made by the Prime Minister in 2014 have not been fulfilled till date and the revised MSP has no meaning as it does not give farmers their due.
"MSP for rice and other crops should have been revised keeping in mind suggestions of the CACP. The government must know that the farmers have suffered a lot and should at least be given a reasonable price for their crops," he said.
Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sangharsh Samanvay Samiti, yet another farmers' body, expressed its reservations concerning the MSP offered by the union government. It said MSP for pulses, rice and other crops must be increased keeping in mind the cost of production (CoP).
Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, an umbrella body of 185 farmers’ organisations across the country, has also echoed the similar sentiments and said it's a game of numbers from the government.
Abhimanyu Kohar, spokesperson Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, said the farmers' body is in touch with a large number of farmers across the country and they would even go the court against the government's decision.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday, approved 50-83 per cent rise in the minimum support price (MSP) of 14 kharif crops. The highest MSP rise was proposed for nigerseed (Rs 755 per quintal), followed by sesamum (Rs 370 per quintal), urad (Rs 300 per quintal) and long staple cotton (Rs 275 per quintal), Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar told media after the high level meeting.
