MSP guarantee would leave very little money for other development & social goals: Govt officials

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Offering a legal guarantee for the procurement of all crops at minimum support prices would leave very little money in the government’s coffer for other development and social goals, unnamed government officials told the Times of India. They said it would be a fiscal disaster for the country.

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The officials underscored the impracticality of implementing such legislation, highlighting that the total value of agricultural produce in the country during FY20 stood at Rs 40 lakh crore, whereas the market value of the 24 crops under the MSP regime was estimated at Rs 10 lakh crore.Procuring this volume of produce from the government’s total expenditure of Rs 45 lakh crore for 2023-24 would severely limit resources available for other crucial development and social objectives essential for India’s economic progress, they argued.

For the upcoming fiscal year, the government has allocated Rs 11,11,111 crore for capital expenditure, primarily directed towards infrastructure projects like roads and railways. “It (Rs 10 lakh crore) is more than the annual average expenditure on infrastructure in the last seven fiscal years (Rs 67 lakh crore, between 2016 and 2023). Clearly, a universal MSP demand does not make any economic or fiscal sense,” the TOI report quoted an official as saying.

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Farmer ProtestsAP

The officials, however, said that the government is ready to talk with the farmer groups.Notably, Union Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda on Tuesday said a law guaranteeing Minimum Support Price (MSP) on crops cannot be brought in a hurry without consulting all stakeholders and urged the protesting farmer groups to have a structured discussion with the government on the issue.Munda is part of the ministerial delegation that held two rounds of discussion with the farmers’ groups, including Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political), Kisan Mazdoor Morcha in Chandigarh, to resolve their concerns.

Also Read: Delhi in a Kisan Jam
Besides a legal guarantee for MSP, the farmers are demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations for farmer welfare, pensions for farmers and farm laborers, and debt waiver, among others.

The farmers are also seeking withdrawal of police cases and “justice” for victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstating the Land Acquisition Act 2013, withdrawing from the World Trade Organization, and compensating families of farmers who died during the previous agitation.

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