Dallewal calls MSP hike ‘meagre’, demands legal guarantee

Chandigarh: Farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal on Thursday rejected the “meagre” hike in minimum support price of crops and alleged that the BJP-led Centre had ‘defrauded’ the farmers of the country.

“We demand that a legal guarantee be given to the farmers. Our crops should be procured at the MSP,” he said This comes as, on Wednesday, the Centre raised the MSP for paddy by 5.35 per cent to Rs 2,300 per quintal for the 2024-25 kharif marketing season. Addressing the media here on Thursday, Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) leader Dallewal called the hike in MSP “meagre”.

Farmers have to pay for fertilizers, and diesel which are not factored in the MSP, he said. “It is a fraud with the farmers of the country,” alleged Dallewal, claiming that farmers are not going to get anything out of this hike. He asserted that there should be a guarantee that farmers’ crops are purchased at the assured price. Dallewal said, earlier, the cotton crop was sold at Rs 4,000-4,500 a quintal as against the MSP of Rs 6,500 per quintal.

“Then what was the benefit (of announcing MSP),” he said. Dallewal also pointed out that only paddy and wheat crops are purchased at MSP which happens only in some areas. That is why farmers are demanding that there should be a law for the MSP, he said. Dallewal demanded that the MSP should be fixed as per the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission report.

Dallewal further said that farmers will give memorandums on July 8 to all MPs except the BJP lawmakers, urging them to raise their issues including a law on MSP in Parliament. He criticized the Punjab government for allegedly not ensuring uninterrupted electricity supply to the agriculture sector.

Meanwhile, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said farmers will hold a protest against the Haryana Police in Ambala on July 17 against the arrest of farmer activist Navdeep Singh. Navdeep was arrested in March, during the ongoing farmers’ protest.

The SKM (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha are spearheading the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march by farmers to press the government to accept their demands which include that the Centre should give a legal guarantee for MSP for crops. The farmers have been staying put at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 when their march was stopped by the security forces.