We had reasons for not accepting NCF recommendation on MSP: Govt

The Government on Friday acknowledged that it had not accepted recommendations of the National Commission...

The Government on Friday acknowledged that it had not accepted recommendations of the National Commission on Farmers (NCF), which had made a case for fixing minimum support price (MSP) at least 50 per cent higher than the cost of production, while announcing the loan waiver package for farmers in the Budget.

Union Minister of State for Agriculture Kantilal Bhuria said this in a written response to a question in the Rajya Sabha. Several political outfits like Samajwadi Party and Telugu Desam Party had launched agitation before the Budget to impress upon the Government to accept this particular recommendation.

While the Government said it had incorporated most of the NCF recommendations in its National Policy for Farmers (NPF) 2007, it reasoned that the recommendation on MSP was not incorporated in the policy because a “mechanical linkage between MSP and cost of production maybe counter-productive”.

Instead, the Government also reasoned that the recommendation on MSP was not accepted because the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices recommends MSP for different crops based on objective criteria, considering a variety of relevant factors.

Citing the fact that “even offtake for BPL families is short against allocation for BPL categories” in several states, the Government said it had not incorporated the NCF recommendation to make the public distribution system universal.

Bhuria said NPF-2007 also did not accept the establishment of Indian Trade Organisation and National Livestock Development Council at the national level, as recommended by NCF, because the departments concerned of the Government of India were opposed to this.

He added the policy also did not provide for setting up of Agricultural Risk Fund, Market Price Stabilisation Fund and Gram Panchayat Mahila Fund because the Ministry of Finance suggested to fund these schemes through normal budgeting process.