Minimum Support Price, loan waiver crucial issues for farmers
- Farmers expect the new government to make a radical break from all its earlier Budgets.
Highlights:
- The National Crime Records Bureau data tells us that 1,00,474 farmers and agricultural workers committed suicide between 2015 and 2022.
- This is a tragic indication of the agrarian crisis in the country.
- The most important issue for farmers in the country today is statutory minimum support price at the rate of C2+50%, that is one-and-a-half times the comprehensive cost of production, as recommended by the M.S. Swaminathan Commission.
- Unless that is done, it’s going to be impossible even to begin to resolve the agrarian crisis.
- The government should bring control through the Budget on the corporations who are producing the inputs.
- The Budget should help public sector companies engaged in the production of inputs.
- The third expectation from the Budget is that they give a complete one-time loan waiver for farmers and agricultural workers all over the country.
- Unless this is done, farm suicides cannot be prevented.
- This government has written off loans worth about ₹16 lakh crore of corporates.
- Loan waiver, bringing down the cost of production and ensuring MSP at a rate of C2+50 have to be done together.
- If this is done, 70% of the crisis in the agrarian sector can be dealt with.
- In the light of continuous drought, flood, unseasonal rains and hailstorms, there should be a comprehensive crop insurance scheme, which is totally different from the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.
- The fifth point is on the question of irrigation and power. Public sector investment in irrigation and power has been cut down in the last 10 years.
- A number of irrigation projects are incomplete in the country. If they are completed, a large section of land will come under irrigation.
- So, the Budget should have provisions to complete these irrigation projects.
- The number of workdays in MGNREGA has come to just 42. The government will have to increase the wages to ₹600 and the number of days of work to at least 200.
- The seventh point, which is very important, is the question of land.
- In total violation of the Land Acquisition Act, there’s massive acquisition of farm lands by corporate houses.
- Land acquisition must be done only when strictly necessary for a public purpose. Radical land reforms must be initiated and completed.
- To raise resources for all this, the Union government must impose wealth tax and inheritance tax.
- Direct taxes must be increased and indirect taxes must be reduced.
Prelims Takeaway
- Indian Agriculture