RSS-affiliated BKS backs farmer demand for MSP

In a memorandum addressed to PM Narendra Modi, and handed over to district collectors, the BKS asked for a law that would make payment of crop prices lower than MSP a punishable offence.

RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) on Wednesday held protests in support of farmers’ demand for assured minimum support price (MSP) in 513 districts across the country. In a memorandum addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and handed over to district collectors, the BKS asked for a law that would make payment of crop prices lower than MSP a punishable offence.

The organisation said that input costs had risen and farmers were not getting remunerative prices for their crops. It said even MSP was not up to the mark, and that there was a huge difference between the price at which farm produce are sold to consumers and MSP. It said arhatiyas and corporates are getting richer by the day while the farmers were getting poorer.

At a press conference earlier, BKS had even said that the government must take a sympathetic view of the demands of farmers protesting in western UP, Haryana and Punjab.

In September last year, ahead of two key Bills related to farmers’ produce and price assurance being taken up by Rajya Sabha for passage, BKS had said that the Bills in their current form were not acceptable.

The main thrust of the BKS’s suggestions then was that all traders must buy farmers’ produce at not less than MSP. It had asked for the Bills to be sent to Standing Committee for adequate discussion, and asked the government to either incorporate assured MSP in the Bills or bring another law.

Both Bills were passed without incorporation of these suggestions.

In letters addressed to Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, the BKS had then said it doubted whether the ordinance brought by the government would fulfil the objective of providing farmers the right price for their produce.

Source: Read Full Article