Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Wednesday said the Congress would meet Governor Satyadev Narayan Arya to demand a special session of the Assembly to discuss the three controversial farm ordinances introduced by the Centre. “The Congress will launch a ‘jihad’ (struggle) from Kurukshetra as soon as the Covid pandemic subsides against the forcible implementation of the ordinances,” he told the media in Kurukshetra. The former Chief Minister said, “We will bring a resolution in the Assembly and show farmers that we are their well-wishers. Imposing laws without the consent of farmers is tantamount to dictatorship. We will not let the government implement the laws forcibly.” “If a farmer will be allowed to sell his crop anywhere, what is the need of the Meri Fasal, Mera Byora portal in Haryana,” he asked. Hooda also visited farmers and arhtiyas at Gharaunda and Karnal grain markets, and criticised the Centre for introducing the ordinances, which, he said, were “anti-farmer”. “The Congress will oppose the ordinance tooth and nail. Party leaders will hit the streets and raise their voice in the Vidhan Sabha,” he told the media at the Karnal grain market. Former Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Sharma and former chairperson of the Haryana Minority Commission Trilochan Singh accompanied Hooda. The former CM claimed,“The produce is procured at throwaway prices, and not at Minimum Support Price (MSP). The Centre should bring in an ordinance to ensure the procurement at MSP.”

Minimum Support Price

The MSP is the rate at which the government buys grains from farmers.
Reason behind the idea of MSP is to counter price volatility of agricultural commodities due to the factors like variation in their supply, lack of market integration and information asymmetry.

Fixation of MSP
The MSP is fixed on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP). Factors taken into consideration for fixing MSP include:

• Demand and supply;
• Cost of production (A2 + FL method)
• Price trends in the market, both domestic and international;
• Inter-crop price parity;
• Terms of trade between agriculture and non-agriculture;
• A minimum of 50% as the margin over cost of production; and
• Likely implications of MSP on consumers of that product.

The Commission also makes visits to states for on-the-spot assessment of the various constraints that farmers face in marketing their produce, or even raising the productivity levels of their crops. Based on all these inputs, the Commission then finalizes its recommendations/reports, which are then submitted to the government. The government, in turn, circulates the CACP reports to state governments and concerned Central Ministries for their comments. After receiving the feed-back from them, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) of the Union government takes a final decision on the level of MSPs and other recommendations made by the CACP.
 

Procurement:
The Food Corporation of India (FCI), the nodal central agency of the Government of India, along with other State Agencies undertakes procurement of crops. The CACP is an attached office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, formed in 1965. It is a statutory body that submits separate reports recommending prices for Kharif and Rabi seasons.

'Meri Fasal Mera Byora' Portal

• It is a multi-level transparent system and this initiative is a step forward towards doubling of farmer’s income by 2022.
• This simple system will enable farmers to self-report their land and crop details and help them receive benefits of several government schemes directly.
• The portal, fasalhry.in , has brought the departments of agriculture and farmer’s welfare, revenue, food civil supplies and consumer affairs and science and technology on a single platform for the betterment of the farmers.
• The portal has been designed to ensure that the farmers get the benefits offered by the State Government including insurance cover, compensation on account of crop damage due to natural calamities and other financial assistance under different schemes.
• Through the portal, the government will also get the accurate data of area and name of crop cultivated in various parts of the state.
• The farmers will be required to upload information like the name of crop sown, area under cultivation, cropping month, bank account number and mobile number on the portal at the nearby Common Service Centres (CSCs) or Atal Seva Kendras with the help of Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) by July 31.
• The farmer would also be required to fill the details about the non-cultivated land in case he has not sown any crop yet.
• E-girdawari (harvest inspection) would be conducted under this system and while conducting girdawari, the concerned officer or official would have to remain physically present at the field. Thereafter, the registration would be done by the departments.
• When the crop is ready for harvesting, satellite photography of the field would be conducted by the Science and Technology Department. These images would also be enclosed with their registration. In case any discrepancy is found in the girdawari, a special girdawari would be got conducted by the Deputy Commissioner concerned.
• Financial incentive of Rs 10 per acre or part thereof, subject to minimum of Rs 20 and maximum of Rs 50, would be provided to each farmer for registering on the portal.