Farmer leaders in Hyderabad: New Kharif MSPs fall short; Centre should give debt relief

Hyderabad: “Farmers are disappointed by Modi government’s new Kharif MSPs and the State governments should write to Centre to implement MSP Guarantee and support Debt relief,” the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) leaders said.

Leaders of Samyukta Kisan Morcha, the nationwide farmers’ movement, organised a press meeting at the Basheerbagh Press Club here on Tuesday.

Responding to the new Kharif Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) announced by the Centre on June 19, the farmer leaders said, “The farmers are disappointed by the prime minister Narendra Modi government’s Kharif MSP announcement because in most crops the increase is only 5-7 per cent and only 1.4 per cent in case of moong. This is barely keeping up with the inflation rate – whereas the rise in cultivation costs is higher.”

“The government has been following the same policy of nominal increases in the past few years, instead of implementing the Swaminathan Commission recommendation of C2+50%. How can the farmers’ lives get better under this government?” they asked.

What were the changes in the MSPs in Kharif crops?

As per the differences in the Kharif MSPs from 2023 to the newly announced rates in 2024, paddy (common) has seen a 5 per cent increase, from Rs 2183 to Rs 2300; cotton increased by 7 per cent, from Rs 7,020 to Rs 7,521.

Here is a comprehensive list of the increase in MSP for various Kharif crops in 2024.

Farmer leaders urge States to put pressure on Centre

One of SKM’s senior national leaders, Vadde Sobhanadreeswara Rao, urged the State governments, including the Telangana and AP governments to write to the Centre demanding the MSP Guarantee Act and support from the Centre to ensure that every farmer gets MSP.

“The Modi government is once again ignoring the demands of the farmers for implementation of Swaminathan Commission recommendations and for a legal guarantee of MSP. What is the use of the government nominally increasing the MSPs when most of the farmers are not getting even the announced MSPs? The Centre also has the responsibility to support debt relief for farmers to address the farmers’ distress,” he added.

Farmers welcome Telangana’s decision for loan waiver

While welcoming the announcement by the Telangana government about the implementation of farmers’ debt relief in one instalment by August 15, the farmer organisations said that they are still waiting for the release of exact guidelines and GO for the loan waiver.

Meanwhile, they also said that the Telangana experience shows that the fiscal burden of debt relief is very high for any State government, therefore it is the responsibility of the Centre to provide support for debt relief for farmers across the country.

National rally in Delhi on July 10

The farmer organisation leaders announced that Samyukta Kisan Morcha will be holding a national meeting in Delhi on July 10 to decide on how to build pressure again on the Central government which continues to ignore the nationwide demands of the farmers.

Some farmer unions are already organising protests at the district level in Telangana against the MSP announcement of the PM Modi government, they said.

The meeting was attended by former MP and agriculture minister Vadde Sobhanadreeswara Rao, SKM leaders Vissa Kirankumar, T Sagar, Muralidhar Reddy, Kanneganti Ravi, B Kondal and others.