Last Updated on 27/07/2024 by Ankita Jain
The UPA government’s cabinet note regarding MSP guarantee discussed by the country’s Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan in the country’s Parliament on Friday is actually the reality. The answers given by the UPA government’s ministers can be considered correct today to know why any government avoids giving MSP guarantee. Because those who demand do not trust the government’s words. The way the opposition leader Rahul Gandhi is giving assurances after assurances to the farmer leaders, he too will have to understand that it is not right to give false assurances to the farmers. In fact, whether it is the farmer leaders or the political parties, whether the ruling party or the opposition, no one is concerned about the welfare of the farmers. Everyone is busy setting their own political pawns.
Swaminathan Commission report and responses of three ministers of the UPA government
Shivraj Singh, while answering a question on the guarantee of MSP in Rajya Sabha, said that Congress had refused to accept the recommendations of Swaminath Commission. Shivraj told that at that time Agriculture Minister Kantilal Bhuria said that it cannot be accepted. Shivraj also quoted a statement of farmer leader Sharad Pawar, who was a minister in the UPA government at that time, and said, the government decides MSP on the basis of CACP recommendations, so it is necessary to know that there can be no internal relationship between production cost and MSP. It was clear that Sharad Pawar also did not agree to give guarantee on MSP.
Shivraj Singh Chauhan told about the statement of another UPA minister KV Thomas that how Thomas too had advocated not to guarantee MSP. Thomas had said that MSP cannot be accepted because MSP is recommended by the Agricultural Cost and Price Commission on the basis of objective criteria considering the system of relevant factors. The Agriculture Minister said that this cabinet note is of the then Congress government in which MSP has been denied. The minister said, the UPA government has not accepted the recommendation of fixing MSP 50% more than the average cost of production in the cabinet saying that MSP has been recommended by CACP as an objective criterion considering the system of relevant factors, so fixing an increase of at least 50% on the cost can ruin the market.
How will any government deal with the practical problems that arise?
First of all, no government would want to spend 10 lakh crores by guaranteeing MSP to only 6 percent of the country’s farmers. 80 percent of these six percent are farmers from Punjab and Haryana and the remaining 20 percent are farmers from all over the country. This can be understood only through a report published in the Indian Express. US President Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) announced a price hike of 6 cents per gallon every six months to improve the economic condition of dairy farmers. But there was bound to be a problem in selling expensive milk. Therefore, the government fixed a rate below which it would not be possible to buy. After this, all the dairy farmers started making cheese and selling it to the US government. The result was that the government had a mountain of cheese piled up. The Carter government spent about 2 billion dollars in support of dairy farmers. After Carter, Ronald Reagan became the President of America and he canceled the order of increasing the milk rate every six months. It can be understood from this example that no government would want to embarrass itself by giving guarantee of MSP.
If Chouhan wants, he can bring a scheme like MP
The biggest problem behind implementing MSP in the country is said to be economic. The total agricultural production in the country is about Rs 40 lakh crore. It is said that where will so much money come from for so much purchase. The market value of the 24 crops on which MSP is applicable is close to Rs 10 lakh crore. Currently the government is spending two and a half lakh crores for purchase on MSP. Ten lakh crores will be needed to purchase 24 crops with MSP. Even if all the purchases are done, where will it be stored? Currently there is a system for storing only 47 percent of the food grains in the country.
Some people believe that Shivraj Singh Chauhan, while being the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, had brought a scheme as an alternative to the guarantee of MSP. Its name was Bhavantar Yojana. Under this, if the farmer sells his crop at a price below MSP, then the state government had to compensate the difference. It is not known how successful this scheme was. But this scheme definitely looks attractive. If there were some shortcomings in this scheme, then it can be improved. At least it can be started as a pilot project. Shivraj Singh Chauhan is now the Agriculture Minister. He should definitely think about this scheme of his.