Samyukt Kisan Morcha dismissed the committee formed on MSP , calls it anti-farmer

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha has decided not to nominate any representative in it, rejecting the committee formed by the Government of India on MSP and many other issues. Morcha has made public its doubts about any such committee ever since the committee was announced with the Prime Minister announcing the repeal of the three black laws on 19 November. In the month of March, when the government had asked the Morcha for names for this committee, the Morcha had sought clarification from the government about the committee, to which it never got a reply. On July 3, the national meeting of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha unanimously decided that “unless the government clarifies the jurisdiction and terms of reference of this committee, there is no justification to nominate a representative of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha to this committee.” ” All the doubts of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha about this committee have come true with the notification issued by the government. Obviously, there is no justification for sending representatives of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha to such an anti-farmer and meaningless committee.

When the government had asked the Morcha for names for this committee, in response to it, in an email sent to the Agriculture Secretary on 24 March 2022, the Morcha asked the government:

i) What will be the TOR (Terms of Reference) of this committee?

ii) Apart from the United Kisan Morcha, which other organizations, individuals and office bearers will be included in this committee?

iii) Who will be the chairman of the committee and what will be its functioning?

iv) How much time will the committee get to submit its report?

v) Will the recommendation of the committee be binding on the government?

The government did not respond to these questions. But the Agriculture Minister kept making rhetoric that the formation of the committee was stalled due to non-receipt of the names of the representatives of the United Kisan Morcha.

By announcing this committee before the Parliament session, the government has tried to complete the paperwork. But the notification makes clear the ill intentions of the government behind this committee and the irrelevance of the committee:

1. The chairman of the committee is former Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal, who made all three anti-farmer laws. He is accompanied by Ramesh Chand, a member of NITI Aayog, who was the main advocate of these three laws. As experts, it is the economists who have been against giving legal status to MSP.

2. Space has been left for 3 representatives of United Kisan Morcha in the committee. But in other places, in the name of farmer leaders, the government has trapped its 5 loyal people who openly advocated all three anti-farmer laws. All these people are either directly associated with BJP-RSS or support their policy. Krishna Veer Choudhary is associated with the Indian Farmers’ Society and is a leader of the BJP. Syed Pasha Patel is a former BJP MLC from Maharashtra. Pramod Kumar Choudhary is a member of the National Executive of the RSS affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh. Gunwant Patil, associated with the Shetkari organization, is a WTO advocate and General Secretary of the Indian Independent Party Party. Gunee Prakash has been a pioneer in opposing the farmers’ movement. These five people spoke openly in favor of all three anti-farmer laws and most of them have been spewing venom against the farmers’ movement.

3. There is no mention of making a law on MSP in the agenda of the committee. That is, this question will not be placed before the committee. Some such items have been put in the agenda on which the government committee is already formed. In the name of reforms in agricultural marketing, an item has been inserted through which the government can try to bring back three black laws through the back door.

In the light of these facts, there is no justification for sending its representatives to this committee by the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha. The struggle of Samyukt Kisan Morcha will continue to get the legal guarantee of MSP to get fair price for the crop to the farmers.