IANS | 10 Jun, 2022
Issues related to farmers have been contentious for quite some time in
the country, particularly after the Union Government passed three farm
reform laws in the Parliament in 2020 and was compelled to withdraw the
laws after a sustained await action by some farmer groups.
While
the government insists that it is taking all possible steps to improve
the incomes of farmers, opposition parties and some farm groups insist
that the government is paying mere lip service to the sector without
actually doing anything concrete.
The farm groups who protested
against the three laws were not satisfied with the withdrawal but want
to pass a fresh law that will make it mandatory for all players,
including those in the private sector, to compulsorily pay the minimum
support prices to farmers.
Though the government has not
listened to the demand, it has publicly committed that it will keep
raising the MSP as and when needed on a regular basis.
It is as
part of this commitment that the government announced increased MSP for
14 crops whose harvesting will be due later this year.
A majority
of respondents covered during a nationwide survey conducted by C Voter
on behalf of IANS were of the opinion that this move will help improve
the incomes of farmers. While more than 559 per cent of the respondents
were of this opinion, the rest felt that farmer incomes would not
improve despite the higher MSP.
There was hardly any difference
in the responses between rural and urban respondents. In virtually no
category did a majority of more than 50 per cent feel that the move to
hike MSP will not lead to higher incomes. Unusual heat waves and other
weather conditions have prompted the government to estimate that
production will be lower than the initially estimated 111 million
tonnes.
