Double PM-Kisan amount, implement legal guarantee of MSP: House panel report
The Standing Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing said that seasonal incentives given to farmers should be extended to tenant farmers and farm labourers.
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The committee has also recommended introducing a scheme to waive off the debts of farmers and farm labourers. (File/Representative Photo)A parliamentary panel has recommended doubling the yearly payouts under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) to Rs 12,000 per annum from the present Rs 6,000 and a legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) to farmers, an issue that has been central to the farmers’ protests in Punjab and Haryana in the last year.
The Standing Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing, headed by Congress MP Charanjit Singh Channi, has made these recommendations in its First Report (Eighteenth Lok Sabha) on ‘Demands for Grants (2024-25)’ of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, which was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
The committee has also recommended a change of nomenclature of the Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare to ‘Department of Agriculture, Farmers & Farm Labourers Welfare’.
“The support given under PM-KISAN scheme may be increased to Rs 12,000/- p.a. from Rs 6,000/- at present. The committee is of the view that seasonal incentives given to farmers may also be extended to tenant farmers and farm labourers. The committee strongly recommends for the name change as stated above which would be vital to a larger effort to streamline agricultural governance and address the diverse needs of those working in agriculture, thereby fostering a more inclusive approach to agricultural development in India,” it said.
“The committee strongly recommends that the department needs to declare a roadmap for implementation of MSP to farmers as a legal guarantee at the earliest,” it said.
Stating that discussions be held with farmers’ representatives before announcing trade policy related to agriculture, the committee said, “The committee is of the view that farmers suffer due to changing international import-export policy on agriculture produce. The committee strongly recommends that a permanent body/institution on the lines of CACP [Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices] may be created and the representatives of farmers alongwith agricultural experts may invariably be included in the same.”
The committee has also recommended introducing a scheme to waive off the debts of farmers and farm labourers. It also recommended setting up a National Commission for Minimum Living Wages for Farm Labourers at the earliest to provide long-due rights to farm labourers. The committee also recommended that the government explore the possibility of providing compulsory Universal Crop Insurance to small farmers with land holdings of up to 2 hectares on the lines of the Union Government’s health insurance scheme – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana(PM-JAY), being provided to all citizens.
While recommending an increase in the support under the PM-Kisan scheme from Rs 6,000 to Rs 12,000 per annum, the committee said that seasonal incentives given to farmers may also be extended to tenant farmers and farm labourers.
Under the PM-Kisan scheme, eligible farmer families receive Rs 6,000 per annum in three equated instalments (Rs 2,000 each instalment) through Direct Benefit Transfer every four months. Launched on February 24, 2019, just before the Lok Sabha elections, the PM-Kisan scheme has 100 per cent funding from the Centre. The fund is directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
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