Rahul Gandhi announced on Tuesday that if the Congress forms the government at the Centre, it would provide farmers with a legal guarantee of MSP for crops. However, in 2010, it had rejected the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations.
The farmers are marching towards the national capital for the ‘Delhi Chalo’ protest, demanding a legal guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP) based on the MS Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations.
Rahul Gandhi announced on Tuesday that if the Congress forms the government at the Centre, it would provide farmers with a legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops as per the Swaminathan Commission.
However, in 2010, Congress government had rejected the commission’s recommendations for remunerative prices.
KV Thomas, the Minister of State for Agriculture in 2010, informed the 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.”
The question on the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendation was then asked by BJP’s Prakash Javadekar.
CONGRESS RESPONDS
Responding to Congress rejecting Swaminathan Commission recommendations in 2010, party leader Pawan Khera said that there were 201 recommendations, out of which 175 were accepted during the UPA government.
“We want to present some facts amidst the sponsored noise. We have been hearing a lot about Swaminathan recommendations. There were 201 recommendations, out of which 175 were accepted during the UPA government,” Khera said during a press conference.
“I challenge the BJP, who claims that we had not implemented the Swaminathan report, to prove otherwise. The person who goes to the beach and lays out a red carpet for himself has placed nails on all roads for farmers,” he said while targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“How will you face farmers when you call them Khalistani, goons, etc.? What law is stopping us from using our own roads and highways?” he further added.
