Friday, January 1, 2021
IMPLEMENTING SWAMINATHAN COMMISSION REPORT? PM Modi claims that his government has been implementing the Swaminathan Commission recommendation on MSP. The truth is that the Swaminathan Commission recommended an MSP of C2+50 per cent. At best, the government gives MSP at A2+imputed value of family labour+50 per cent. The difference between the two is significant. While A2 is the actual paid out cost, C2 includes A2, the imputed value of family labour, interest on the value of owned capital assets, rent paid for leased-in land and the rental value of owned land. The central government, thus, negates the Swaminathan Commission recommendation on MSP apart from ignoring all other suggestions. The CPI(M) 2019 election manifesto contains in the section on ‘agricultural reforms’, the first point demanding the legal right to sell at MSP to all farmers. Since at least 2017, this was being raised by the CPI(M) MPs in the Parliament, but till date, the central government has not enacted such a law. Further, the MSP must include all agricultural crops and cover all the farmers. At present, it only covers six per cent of the farmers. Further, an MSP without an efficient procurement mechanism is meaningless. So, the procurement system, both public and private, must be made universal all over the country.
