The Centre on Wednesday set up a committee led by former Niti Aayog member Ramesh Chand to examine sugarcane farmers' demands, including higher remunerative prices and an increase in the minimum selling price (MSP) of sugar. The panel will focus on concerns raised by farmers in Karnataka and Maharashtra, two major sugarcane-producing states.
The move follows a meeting on October 12 between Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Food Minister Pralhad Joshi and a delegation of farmers from the two states at the Pusa campus. Around 80-90 farmers from different organisations attended the meeting, along with state ministers, according to a Food Ministry statement.
