MSP panel holds 1st meet amid farm stir | India News

NEW DELHI: A central government panel constituted to suggest measures to make MSP available to farmers held its first meeting on Monday even as a large number of farmers from several outfits assembled at Jantar Mantar here and along Delhi’s borders demanding legal guarantee on support price, justice for the victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence and withdrawal of cases registered during protests last year.
“It is a kind of preliminary meeting where presentations were made on MSP and other issues while seeking suggestions from farmer representatives who participated in it. The next meeting will be held in Hyderabad, date of which is to be decided soon,” said a panel member.
Though Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) stayed out of the meeting as per its earlier decision of not being part of the panel, other farmer leaders, including Gunvant Patil Hangargekar, general secretary of the All India Kisan Co-ordination Committee, attended it and suggested the government to stick with the agri-reform measures.
The outfits, which held protests on Monday, have, nothing to do with SKM. Calling themselves SKM (non-political), the protesters were part of the splinter groups of the divided SKM. They vowed to step up protests in the coming months in support of their demands.
The government committee, headed by ex-agriculture secretary Sanjay Agarwal, doesn’t have the legal guarantee issue in its terms of reference. It is, however, expected to suggest measures on how to make MSP available to farmers. The issues concerning promotion of natural farming and preparing a comprehensive strategy for crop diversification were also discussed in the meeting.