Agriculture minister Arjun Munda on Wednesday said that there is no immediate plan to resume talks with protesting farmers who have been demanding legal guarantees for all the 23 Minimum Support Price (MSP) crops.
“There is no immediate plan to resume the talk, however we need to find a solution,” Munda said on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
Meanwhile, two farmers groups from Punjab — Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha — which is spearheading the farmers agitations have postponed their ‘Delhi chalo’ march till Thursday.
During the earlier round of the talks with farmers groups, the government has made a slew of offers to the agitating farmers from Punjab and Haryana.
The government had proposed that state-owned agencies Nafed and NCCF will procure five crops — cotton, maize, tur, urad and masoor — from these farmers at minimum support price (MSP) without any limit on volume, for the next five years.
Food minister Piyush Goyal, following a meeting with agitating farmers’ leaders recently said that MSP purchases will be under a contractual agreement and will be valid for farmers who diversify from paddy and wheat.
“There will be no limit on the quantity (purchased) and a portal will be developed for this operation,” Goyal said.Farmers groups had rejected the government’s proposal.
The government had also urged Nafed and NCCF to procure the three pulses — tur, urad and masoor — which the country imports in significant quantities, “at market prices or at MSP for the next five years.”
Additionally, the government approved a standard operating procedure for Nafed and NCCF to purchase maize at MSP for supplies to distillers for ethanol manufacturing
The farmers continue to demand legal guarantees for MSP purchase of all the 22 crops besides other demands including debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, reinstatement of the land acquisition Act, 2013, the country’s withdrawal from World Trade Organisation.