According to a news source, the leaders of the farmers’ groups demonstrating on Monday turned down the Center’s offer to purchase five crops through cooperatives at the minimum support price and said that they would continue their march towards Delhi.
During the fourth session of negotiations between the Centre and the head of the protesting farmers, the suggestion was made on Sunday.
The Centre had proposed that for the following five years, farmers would sell their maize and pulses (urad, tur, and arhar) to cooperative societies like the National Cooperative Consumers Federation and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India at a minimum support price. Additionally, it suggested that cotton crops be purchased at the minimum support price by the Cotton Corporation of India.
The rate at which the government purchases agricultural products is known as a minimum support price, and it is determined by multiplying the farmers’ actual cost of production by at least 1.5.
In an attempt to pressure the Centre into accepting their 21-point demand charter, two umbrella organisations representing about 200 farmers’ and agricultural labourer unions, the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha and the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political), called for a protest march to Delhi last week.
Their main goals are the enactment of legislation that would ensure a minimum support price for agricultural products and the wider adoption of the suggestions made by the MS Swaminathan Commission Report about farming in India.
According to news agency, Jagjit Singh Dallewal, the leader of the Sidhupur branch of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, stated on Monday that the most recent proposal was “not in favour” of the farmers. He told reporters, “We stand by our demand of a legal guarantee for MSP [minimum support price] on all 23 crops.”
According to Dallewal, the government will have to pay Rs 1.5 lakh crore for the minimum support price on pulses alone. This was stated by the delegation from the Centre, which included Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, Minister of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Arjun Munda, and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai.
“We have calculations from experts who say that the MSP on all 23 crops will cost the exchequer Rs 1.75 lakh crore,” the news agency quoted Dallewal as saying. “We spend Rs 1.75 lakh crore on palm oil imports. Palm oil is already responsible for so many diseases in the country. If the government announces MSP on oil seeds, then Rs 1.75 lakh crore can be saved on these imports.”
The Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee’s general secretary, Sarvan Singh Pandher, countered that the plan will only help farmers who diversify their crops beyond paddy.
“The Union ministers kept telling us inside the meeting that the proposal was for all the farmers across the country,” Pandher said. “But after they came out, they started saying that only those farmers would get MSP on pulses, maize and cotton, who will diversify from paddy.”
Farmers’ group leaders declared that Wednesday at 11 a.m., the protest would continue. They had announced on Sunday that they would put their protest on hold for two days in order to talk about the Center’s plan.
“We have every right to launch an agitation,” he said, according to the news agency. “There is no need for any meeting. The government should take decisions now. There have been enough discussions.”
Punjabi farmers numbering in the thousands have been stopped at the Shambhu border between the state and Haryana. Barbed wire and concrete barriers have been erected along the border by the Haryana Police.
“We appeal to the [Union] government to either accept our demands or let us go to Delhi,” Pandher said. “But nobody listens to us. We have been trying not to cause harm to anyone. We do not want anyone to lose his life. But this government is not listening.”
Punjabi farmers have accused the Haryana Police of using excessive force against them during the protests at the Shambhu border. The Haryana Police allegedly used pellet guns on three protestors last week, causing them to become blind, according to the Punjab Health Minister. According to the Haryana Police, all they had used against the demonstrators was rubber pellets and tear gas.
