The Centre has finally constituted a committee headed by former Union Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agrawal here on Monday to look into the issues of minimum support price (MSP), as promised to the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) earlier in January. The panel has three unfilled posts for representatives of the SKM, which will be filled as and when the Centre receives the recommendations from the umbrella body of farmers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said while announcing the decision to repeal the three farm laws that a committee will be constituted to promote zero budget-based farming, to change crop patterns keeping in mind the changing needs of the country, and to make MSP more effective and transparent. He had said the committee will consist of representatives of the Central and State governments, farmers, agricultural scientists and agricultural economists.
Apart from Agrawal, NITI Aayog Member (Agriculture) Ramesh Chand, agricultural economists CSC Shekhar and Sukhpal Singh, award-winning farmer Bharat Bhushan Tyagi, members from other farmer organisations Gunwant Patil, Krishnaveer Choudhary, Pramod Kumar Choudhary, Gumi Prakash and Sayyed Pasha Patel, IFFCO chairman Dilip Sanghani, CNRI general secretary Binod Anand, senior member of the CACP Naveen P. Singh, agriculture experts P Chandrashekhar, J.P. Sharma and Pradeep Kumar Bisen will be members of the panel.
