Amid protests, Finance Minister meets farmers for pre-budget talks

The BJP-led NDA government on Saturday invited farmers and farmer associations for pre-budget consultations and an understanding of the sector and its financial demands.

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The meeting, currently under way in the national capital, is being chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with 11 farmers, representatives of farmer associations and agricultural economists attending.

Punjab is being represented by Ajay Vir Jakhar, who hails from Maujgarh village in the state and chairs Bharat Krishak Samaj (Indian Farmers Forum), a non-political forum that works for the welfare of farmers.

Jakhar is himself a citrus farmer and an ardent advocate of sustainable food systems and farmer welfare.

Also in the meeting is Dharmendra Malik, spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union led by Tikait brothers, which was at the forefront of the year-long agitation against three agricultural laws that were later withdrawn.

The meeting comes in the midst of Punjab farmers attempting another march to Delhi to demand a legal backing for MSP.

For the pre-budget consultations, the Finance Ministry has also invited several people including Ashish Patel, director of Vam Agro Forest Private Limited, Gujarat; Sanjay Singh, director, Centre of Technology and Entrepreneurship Development, UP; Badri Narayan Choudhary, chairman, Bhartiya Kisan Sangh; Pradip Dave, president, The Pesticides Manufacturers and Formulators Association of India; Pramod Kumar Choudhary, All India president, Bharatiya Agro Economic Research Centre; RG Agarwal, chairman, Agri Business Committee, PHD Chamber of Commerce; Sagar Kaushik, president, Corporate Affairs UPL Ltd, Sachin Kumar Sharma, professor, Centre for WTO Studies, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade and Moinuddin, a progressive farmer from Lucknow.

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had on Friday assured farmers including those protesting in Punjab that the government has strengthened the MSP regime in the past ten years and will strengthen it further.

The Centre is awaiting submission of the expert panel it had set up in July 2022 after the withdrawal of farm laws to suggest ways to strengthen the MSP system and make it more transparent besides proposing measures to encourage natural, organic farming and crop diversification.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly urged farmers to adopt natural farming practices and diversify.