Context :
AIKS
floats model bill on crop support price /
Business Line / 20 Feb 2021
Extract :
Maintaining that a law to ensure Minimum
Support Price at 50 per cent above cost of production (C2+50 per cent) is
possible, the All India Kisan Sabha has come up with a model Bill to ensure
fair and remunerative price for farm produce.
The AIKS hopes to get the Bill into Parliament
as a private member’s Bill during the second part of the budget session
The Bill suggests,
Ø creation of social cooperatives of
workers and peasants,
Ø which will supply agricultural products based on the quality
standards ,
Ø to the “ Primary
Agricultural Self Help Groups ”
Ø at MSP which is not less than C2 + 50 per cent.
It also
recommends
Ø A scheme to share certain fixed percentage of the surplus income earned by
marketing the value-added products processed out of the primary agricultural
products as additional price to the farmers.
Ø
It will be calculated according to
the proportion of the quantity of products supplied to the social cooperatives and additional
wages to the workers involved in the production network.
Self Help Groups
Self Help
Groups can be formed with the approval and under the direction of the
respective ‘Block Agricultural Social Co-operative Processing and Marketing
Centre’ comprising of not less than twenty and not more than forty farmers and agriculture
workers residing in the designated local bodies and engaged in farming.
The model Bill
also proposes establishment of Price Stabilisation
Fund (PSF) with the contribution of member farmers and others and
the support of various schemes of the Centre and State Governments, interest
free loans from the financial institutions with government guarantee and share
from the surplus income of the social cooperatives.
“The PSF can
develop as self-reliant fund from the share of
surplus created out of the income from the processed, value added consumer products and extend assistance for developing crop insurance and
compensation schemes to all member farmers,” the Bill said. It says procurement
of agricultural products at rates lower than MSP should be treated as an
offence.
Existing formula
“A system of authority to monitor and fix Minimum Support Price to all crops from time to time shall be ensured,” the Bill said.
Releasing the draft Bill, AIKS leaders Hannan
Mollah and Ashok Dhawle said,
Ø the existing rate of MSP based on A2+FL calculation (actual
paid out cost plus imputed value of family labour) is not remunerative and
Ø according to reports only six per cent of the farm produce
based on the estimate of Gross Value Added has been procured by the governments
by providing this meager MSP.
“Hence
huge majority of the farmers are forced to sell far below support price, making
MSP only notional for the vast majority,” they said.
Mollah and Dhawle added that
Ø
the benefit of surplus created out of value addition of farm produce
is amassed by the corporate companies.
They cited the example of Basmati rice and said
,
Ø while farmers get ₹18 to ₹ 30 per kilo from the
intermediaries for Basmati paddy, branded Basmati is sold at about ₹ 208 per
kilo.
Ø “This sort of loot and exploitation by the corporate sector
and their intermediaries in the market is one of the main reasons for the
widespread indebtedness of the peasant households and the resultant massive
peasant suicides.
Ø Every hour two farmers are committing suicide in India and
2,468 farmers per day are forced to give up agriculture,” they said.
===================================================
In my following earlier e-mail , I had
suggested a somewhat similar provision :
Selling
Farm Laws before selling Farm Crops …………………………….[ 24 Sept 2020 ]
Extact
:
Dear Shri Tomarji
[ nstomaroffice@gmail.com / ns.tomar@sansad.nic.in ],
I am sure those farmer organizations
would send their delegates to meet you. When they do, I request you to consider
telling them following :
Ø As it is, farm income is already exempt from Income
Tax.
To enable rapid adoption of CONTRACT FARMING, we will exempt the “Profit
“ that a Company will make
by “ Value
Added through Processing “,of farm produce purchased by entering into
CONTRACT
FARMING
This
provision will be for 5 years and will encourage thousands of Companies to
enter into CONTRACT
FARMING agreements with farmers.
This
will expand the market and bring in COMPETITION among these Corporate Buyers,
leading to higher prices for the farmers
Ø
On the existing Govt
portal ( e-NAM ),
we will introduce a section called CONTRACT FARMING,
where the farmers desirous of entering into contract farming agreements,
will submit their full details
# Name / Farm Size / Location of farm / main crops / past yields per
acre / no of workers / family
loan liabilities / water availability etc )
Ø
Companies on look-out for
CONTRACT FARMING can search this database ( of c
Ø
Central Government would have
full access to these contracts entered Online between the parties
and ensure that no
contract is entered into below the MSP for the concerned crop
Ø
No one else can see these contracts but the
parties concerned would have a provision to EDIT these
Ø This will enable the Govt to know the I
==================================================
Dear
Shri Tomarji,
For
past 3 months, Kisan Unions were merely criticizing the FARM LAWS – and demanding
repeal, without suggesting WHAT SPECIFIC ALTERNATE clauses they wanted
introduced in these laws
Now
All India Kisan Sabha ( AIKS ) has gone, more than a step forward and decided
to introduce a entirely NEW BILL ( - to override, the existing ones )
That
puts the ball in your court. This proposed bill opens up a new door for a
dialogue in the spirit of “Give & Take “
Now,
it is up to you to introduce AMENDMENTS – sharply worded, specific amendments –
and refer the bill to the SELECT COMMITTEE.
In
my earlier mail, I had proposed :
Ø Incentivizing the
FOOD PROCESSORS ( Companies making “ VALUE ADDITION by PROCESSING “ ) by tax-exempting
their “ AMOUNT of PROFIT “ solely made through processing of Agro-crops obtained through CONTRACT FARMING only ( - and not
through processing of agro-crops freely purchased in Mandies )
My idea was to increase many fold,
value-addition of agri-crops by “
incentivizing “ food-processors
As
against this , AIKS wants that ,
Ø share certain fixed
percentage of the surplus income earned by marketing the value-added
products processed out of the primary agricultural products as
additional price to the farmers
Ø
the benefit of surplus
created out of value addition of farm produce must not be amassed by the
corporate companies.
Ø Instead of solely
“ incentivizing “ the corporate ( as suggested by me ) , through sharing of “
Surplus Income Earned “ , we should “
motivate “ the farmers to come forward in a big way , to cooperate /
collaborate with the FOOD PROCESSORS
If , as suggested by AIKS , an iron-clad /
foolproof method ( of sharing of “ SURPLUS
INCOME through FOOD PROCESSING “ with the farmers ) can be put in place, I
believe, it will find much better acceptance among farmers ( as compared to my
suggestion , which may have a simpler operating mechanism , but may smack of
crony-capitalism )
Dear Shri Tomarji ,
I
urge you to approach AIKS proposal with an OPEN MIND
With
regards,
Hemen
Parekh /
hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 21
Feb 2021
===================================================
CC
: All
India Kisan Sangarsh Coordination Committee ( AIKSCC ) – Members
===================================================
|
Akhil Gogoi |
Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) |
|
|
Dr Ashish Mittal |
All India Kisan Mazdoor Sabha (AIKMS) |
|
|
Atul Kumar Anjaan |
All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) |
|
|
Avik Saha |
Jai Kisan Andolan (JKA) |
|
|
Dr Darshan Pal |
Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU Dakaunda) |
|
|
Hannan Mollah |
All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS Canning Street) |
|
|
Kavitha Kuruganti |
Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) |
|
|
Kiran Vissa |
Rythu Swarajya Vedika (RSV) |
|
|
K. Chandrasekhar |
Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) |
|
|
Medha Patkar |
National Alliance for People’s Movements (NAPM) |
|
|
P. Ayyakkanu |
National-South India River Interlinking Agriculturists
Association |
|
|
Pratibha Shinde |
Lok Sangharsh Morcha (LSM) |
|
|
Raja Ram Singh |
All India Kisan Mahasabha (AIKM) |
|
|
Raju Shetti |
Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana (SSS) |
|
|
Satyawan |
All India Kisan Khet Mazdoor Sangathan (AIKKMS) |
|
|
Dr Sunilam |
Kisan Sangharsh Samiti |
|
|
Tajinder Virk |
Tarai Kisan Sangathan |
|
|
VM Singh |
Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan (RKMS) |
|
|
Yogendra Yadav |
Swaraj Abhiyan |
