Two weeks before the Monsoon Session of Parliament got under way, the BJP-led NDA government had announced hike in minimum support price (MSP) for 14 kharif crops and claimed that the new MSP would ensure that farmers earn 1.5 times their input cost. On Tuesday, several Opposition members raised the issue in Lok Sabha and said that the government is yet to implement all recommendations made by the Swaminathan Commission in 2006. Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Radha Mohan Singh responded by saying that the previous Congress-led UPA government had rejected the Swaminathan Commission's recommendation of 50 per cent higher MSP. Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda questioned Singh on the government's calculations of reaching the input cost for farmers. Referring to the two calculations mentioned in the Swaminathan Commission - A2+FL and C2 - Hooda said the government used the A2+FL calculation since it works out to be cheaper. "Not all input costs are included in A2+FL," Hooda said. "Whether it is cost related to land, the cost of irrigation, C2 includes many such costs." The Commission had mentioned that the farmer should be given 50 per cent more than his input costs using the C2 calculation, Hooda said. Using the C2 calculations, he maintained, MSP for paddy should be Rs 2,340 per quintal, while the government has announced Rs 1,750. Taking on the government for calling this MSP increase "historic", Hooda said the UPA had increased MSP by an average 67 per cent every year, and had paid an MSP of more than 50 per cent in nine out of its 10 years in office. P Karunakaran of the CPI(M) also asked the government whether it is ready to implement all recommendations suggested by the commission. He said two of the most important recommendations were reducing the rate of interest on crop loans to 4 per cent, and waiving off farmer's loans. Biju Janata Dal's Bhartruhari Mahtab asked the Speaker to have a short discussion on MSP. Replying to the Opposition members, minister Radha Mohan Singh said that when the National Farmer's Policy was drafted in 20017, a year after the Swaminathan Commission submitted its report, "it was said clearly" that the then UPA government did not agree to it, and "it was not included in the policy". Countering Hooda, Singh said that in 2013- 14, MSP was just 18 per cent more than the input cost of jwar. Responding to Karunkaran's question, the minister counted various measures taken by the Narendra Modi government in accordance with recommendations of the Commission. He said, "All the recommendations of the Commission (were).put in cold storage. The (NDA) government has implemented all of them in the last four years."
