Supreme Court puts Centre, Punjab, Haryana, PAU on notice over MSP petition

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, April 28

The Supreme Court has issued notices to the Central, Punjab and Haryana governments on a petition seeking minimum support price (MSP) and procurement by the government, including periodic increases in MSP, for every crop grown by farmers.

A Bench led by Justice Abhay S Oka on April 26 asked the Centre, governments of Punjab and Haryana, Central Pollution Control Board, Punjab Agriculture University, Central Ground Water Board, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) to respond to the petition filed by advocate Charanpal Singh Bagri and posted the matter for hearing on July 12.

Petitioner seeks msp for all crops

• The petitioner has sought a direction to the authorities “to provide new alternative crops to replace paddy by fixing MSP of new crops higher than that of paddy
• The petition also seeks guidance, financial assistance to farmers, locality-wise for producing crops according to settled principles by fixing MSP of each crop

In his petition filed in 2019, Bagri has also sought a direction to the authorities “to provide new alternative crops as per the quality of soil, land or geographical location to replace paddy by fixing MSP of new crops higher than that of paddy because it depletes underground water which may lead to ‘land subsidence’ and pollution at the time of burning of paddy residue.”

He said farmers of Punjab and Haryana were forced to grow wheat and paddy as these two crops have MSP and are procured by the government, despite the fact that this farming pattern has created threefold problems — fast depletion of underground water, pollution due to stubble burning and financial burden on the state on account of storing excess paddy.

The petitioner demanded crop diversification by providing alternative crops to replace paddy by providing higher MSP to new crops as a solution to the current agricultural problems in Punjab and Haryana. Agricultural universities should introduce new varieties of seed for pulses and other crops, imported from foreign countries, he said, adding that the government should promote organic farming.

Bagri wanted the top court to direct the government and its agencies to assess the requirement of agricultural produces i.e. wheat, millets, pulses, rice, maze, sugarcane, vegetables, groundnuts, sunflower, mustard seeds, turmeric, legume, cotton, jute etc., for consumption of citizens of our country, including export and notify specific areas district or block wise as per geographical indication, natural resources like water, soil, etc. It would lead to reduction in import storage cost, he submitted.

The petition also sought guidance, financial assistance to the farmers, locality-wise for producing crops according to settled principles by fixing MSP of each crop.