New Delhi

In a redux of the farmers protest in 2020-21, a sizeable number of farmers marched from their villages in Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh, as part of ‘Chalo Delhi’ agitation to seek government’s nod and preferably a legislation to implement their demands. Minimum Support Price (MSP) is their chief demand this time.

Farmers Protest 2.0 has earned the support of Congress and other Opposition parties. Leading from the front, Rahul Gandhi has promised guarantee on MSP for crops, apparently taking a leaf from PM Modi’s popular guarantee slogans.

However, it has come to light that Congress government in 2010, itself turned down the recommendations of Swaminathan Committee report which batted for a much higher compensation for farmers, in lieu of their farm produce.

Notably, Swaminathan Committee’s National Commission report, headed by renowned scientist MS Swaminathan, had submitted its recommendation on Minimum Support Price (MSP) before the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2010.

A questionnaire from Parliament, dated 16 April, 2010, shows that KV Thomas, the then minister in UPA government cited ‘distortion of market’ and ‘counter-productive’ aspect as the reason for turning down the recommendations. KV Thomas, the MoS for Agriculture in 2010 during UPA rule, said in response to BJP MP Prakash Javadekar in Rajya Sabha that the recommendation was not accepted by the government because MSP is recommended by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) based on objective criteria and considering a variety of relevant factors. Hence, prescribing an increase of at least 50% on cost may distort the market. A mechanical linkage between MSP and the cost of production may be counter-productive in some cases.