Supreme Court requests answer from the Centre, Punjab, and Haryana on PIL for setting MSP for non-paddy alternative crops

NEW DELHI: In response to a plea to fix the minimum support price (MSP), the Supreme Court on Friday requested responses from the governments of the Centre, Punjab, and Haryana. This included a periodic increase in the MSP for farmers’ alternative crops and government procurement of them.

A bench consisting of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan sent notices to the ICAR, agricultural universities, states of Punjab and Haryana, the center, and pollution control bodies, requesting them to submit their responses.

The subject has now been scheduled for hearing by the bench for the second week of July.

Advocate Charanpal Singh Bagri filed a petition to set a minimum support price for “alternative crops” that is more than the paddy MSP.

“Farmers of Punjab, Haryana are helpless to grow crops of wheat and paddy as the same have MSP and procured by the government, despite the fact that crop of paddy has primarily created threefold hurdles, fast depletion of underground drinkable water, pollution due to stubble or paddy straw burning, and creation of financial burden on the State for storing excess paddy during the paddy season,” Bargi stated.

He continued by saying that farmers should therefore be given new crops based on their geographic location and soil quality by determining the MSP of each crop.

In the petition, it was also requested that agricultural institutions provide fresh varieties of pluses and other imported seeds from outside.

“The MSP should be at higher rates and a condition may be imposed that farmers should use a limited prescribed quantity of pesticides so that organic crops may be provided to the citizens,” Bagri said.

Farmers live in abject poverty and are unable to end their own lives in the lack of MSP and government purchases, he said.