The farmers' protest has entered its Day 3. As per national media reports, a couple of Union ministers have been deputed to hold a meeting with the representatives of the protestors on Thursday. The agenda is to discuss their demands, particularly the demand for a law guaranteeing Minimum Support Price for all crops.
As per experts, the MSP law will be irrational. It will be a huge burden on the exchequer. An estimate says that acquiring all crops under MSP will increase the burden of the government by Rs 11 lakh crore every year.
Ashok Gulati, an agriculture expert, says that the MSP law will prove to be anti-farmer. "Only wheat and rice have been mainly covered by the MSP mechanism that exists currently. And even this benefits only farmers from Punjab, Haryana and a couple of other states. In states like Bihar, cereals sell at less than the MSP. Milk, eggs and other poultry products have no MSP. These sectors have been growing faster without MSP," Gulati says.
Only rich framers from Punjab are extremely passionate about the MSP law. They want a law that will benefit them at the cost of farmers from other States in the country.
In summation, farmers protesting for an MSP law are not only wrong but are also driven by selfish motives with zero regard for the financial health of the country. Their lobbies have nearly destroyed the economy of Punjab. They now want to wreak the country's economy by forcing the government to legislate MSP.
