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17/02/24 10:01 AM IST

Swaminathan panel report

In News
  • Farmers demanding legal guarantee for MSP have invoked recommendations of the National Commission on Farmers, which said MSP should be ‘at least 50% more than the weighted average cost of production’ .
About commission
  • Agricultural scientist M S Swaminathan, who was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna this month, played a major role in the changes in Indian agriculture in the 1960s and 70s that helped India achieve food security.
  • On November 18, 2004, the Ministry of Agriculture constituted a National Commission on Farmers (NCF) under Prof Swaminathan.
  • The commission also had two full-time members, Dr Ram Badan Singh and Y C Nanda; four part-time members, Dr R L Pitale, Jagadish Pradhan, Chanda Nimbkar, and Atul Kumar Anjan; and a member secretary, Atul Sinha.
Terms of reference
  • The 10-point terms of reference of the commission, which reflected the Common Minimum Programme of the Congress-led UPA government, included suggesting a “comprehensive medium-term strategy for food and nutrition security”, and ways of “enhancing productivity, profitability, and sustainability of the major farming systems” in the country.
  • The Swaminathan Commission did not recommend either a legal guarantee for MSP or the formula for its calculation that the farmers’ unions are now demanding.
Recommendations
  • It called for the setting up of a National Board for New Deal for Women in Agriculture under the Union Food and Agriculture Minister, with the Union Ministers for Women and Child Development, Rural Development, and Panchayati Raj as co-chairs.
  • The report also suggested that Farm Schools should be established in the fields of innovative farmers, in order to spread their message and methods. “Promoting 50,000 Farm Schools across the country will require an investment of Rs 150 crore,” it estimated.
  • The report suggested establishing a grain bank and community food and fodder banks, promoting insurance, and setting up a national network of advanced soil testing labs.
  • It recommended a code of conduct for contract farming, and advocated amendments in the state APMC Acts and the Essential Commodities Act.
  • The State Agriculture Produce Marketing Acts need to be amended to provide for…encouraging the private sector or cooperatives to establish markets, develop marketing infrastructure and supporting services, collect charges and allowing marketing without the necessity of going though APMC/ licensed traders.
  • The Commission recommended futures and options trading in agricultural commodities, with supervision and regulation by a “SEBI like autonomous body.
About MSP
  • The Swaminathan Commission did not recommend the fixing of MSP based on C2 (actual cost of production) plus 50 per cent, as demanded by the protesting farmers.
  • Implementation of MSP across regions needs improvement.
  • The Commission noted that “except Punjab, Haryana, UP, and Andhra Pradesh to some extent, the prices of agri commodities covered under MSP…often rule below the MSP in absence of any government intervention.
  • The report did not mention calculation of MSP based on C2, it did discuss the cost of production, and made a suggestion for the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), which recommends MSPs.
Cost of production
  • The cost of production is one of the main considerations in deciding the level of the MSP. However, it is not easy to decide the cost of production.
  • The cost of production of the same crop varies between regions and between farmers of the same region.
  • The CACP recommends the MSP on the basis of the weighted average cost of production in states giving consideration to the variability of the cost of production.
  • Taking into account also the factors of production, paid as well as the imputed values of unpaid factors in fixed and variable cost of production.
  • The risk factor and the marketing and post harvest expenses are however, not taken into account.
  • The second report highlighted the recommendations of the High Level Committee on Long Term Grain Policy, 2002 headed by the economist Abhijit Sen in a box.
  • The Abhijit Sen Committee had examined various aspects connected with MSP and price support operations.
Source- Indian Express

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