New Delhi, Feb 4 (Agency) Government on Friday assured that it is committed to form a committee on Minimum Support Price (MSP) as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi but it’s waiting for the elections in five states to get over. Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has made it clear on floor of the House that once the Assembly polls are over, process to form the committee would be initiated. “We all know that the PM announced the constitution of a committee to make crop diversification, natural farming and MSP effective. The government is committed to the announcement made by the PM,” he said in Question Hour in Rajya Sabha.
Tomar said that the government was forming a committee on the MSP but then the Assembly polls were announced. It had written to ECI asking for permission and the EC in its reply said that the government should wait for the elections before setting up the said committee. The minister also said that there was no mechanism to define MSP and make farming profitable in the country before 2018. He said that fixing MSP at 50% more than the production cost was one of the recommendations made by Swaminathan Committee which were turned down by the inter-ministerial panel at that time. He said that the PM accepted the recommendation. Responding to a query by BJD MP Sasmit Patra, MoS for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Kailash Choudhary said that the inter ministerial panel was formed in 2007 and the government has accepted 200 out of 215 recommendations made by the Swaminathan Committee.