SC appointed three-member committee in January this year while staying the three farm laws
Union Cabinet is likely to take up for approval the bills for withdrawal of 3 farm laws
He said “If there is going to be a law (on MSP), we (India) will face a crisis. With the law, if the (procurement) process goes down someday, no one will be able to buy the produce as procuring it at a price lower than the MSP will be illegal and they (traders) will be put in jails for it”.
His remarks came amid demands by protesting farmers for legislation on MSP even as they hailed the decision for withdrawal of three farm laws.
He finally said that we are not against MSP, but open-ended procurement is a problem. We require 41 lakh tonnes of grains for buffer stock but procured 110 lakh tonnes. If MSP law is made, all farmers will demand MSP for their crops and no one will be in a position to earn anything out of that.
Even as the agitating farmers today reiterated their six-point charter of demands at a mahapanchayat in Lucknow, BKU leader Rakesh Tikait accused the Centre of trying to divide the farmers. “They did the right thing by withdrawing the laws but tried to divide us, saying they had failed to convince a section of farmers on the usefulness of the laws”.
In spite of the government's bentdown, farmers said that the farmers' stir would continue till all their demands were met. Asking the government to resume talks with the farmers on minimum support price (MSP) for crops, he declared: “We are not going away. The PM must give a clear answer on the demand for a law guaranteeing MSP that he had ‘supported’ when he was Gujarat CM.”