Govt will form MSP committee as soon as SKM gives names: Narendra Singh Tomar

Farm Minister points out PM made the promise while announcing withdrawal of three farm laws that farmers had been protesting against for over a year

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said in the Rajya Sabha on Friday that the government would form a committee on minimum support price (MSP) as promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2021 as soon as it received names of representatives from the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM).

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar speaks in the Rajya Sabha during the second part of Budget Session of Parliament, in New Delhi

Responding to a question by DMK’s M. Shanmugam during the Question Hour, Mr. Tomar said the government was committed to setting up the committee. The Prime Minister made the promise while announcing the withdrawal of the three farm laws that farmers had been protesting against for over a year.

Mr. Tomar said the Prime Minister had stated that a committee would be formed on organic farming, crop diversification and to make MSPs more transparent. The government was working on the matter.

“We have asked the Samyukt Kisan Morcha for names. Talks are on with them. As soon as the names are received, the committee would be formed,” Mr. Tomar said, referring to the umbrella group of farmers’ unions that had protested against the farm laws.

Parboiled rice issue

Earlier in the Question Hour, Consumer, Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal hit out at State governments for “misleading” farmers on procurement of parboiled rice. In response to a question by Telangana Rashtra Samithi’s K. Keshava Rao, he reiterated the Centre’s stand that the States could procure parboiled rice for distribution within the State, but the Centre would not. The Centre had informed the States about its inability to procure parboiled rice, as four or five years’ worth of stock of the same was still in store and there was no further demand.

The Telangana government, he observed, had “given it in writing” that they would give raw rice and not parboiled rice to the Centre. There was an attempt by “some MPs and some State governments” to mislead farmers. Mr. Rao had said that the rules and laws in question say the government would procure paddy, not rice, which could be in different forms.