Nirmala Sitharaman counters Rahul Gandhi: Swaminathan MSP report was junked by Congress, now shedding crocodile tears for farmers
farmers, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said that the party junked the MS Swaminathan's report on MSP. Citing UPA government's Cabinet note, she said that the report was rejected as it could have 'distorted the market'.
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“Agricultural allocation was Rs 21,934 crores in 2013-14. But in 2024-25 it is 1.23 lakh crores, a five-time increase. More than 3.2 lakh crores has been disbursed to 11 crore farmers under the PM Kisan scheme,” FM Sitharaman said in response to queries on agriculture.
Talking about MSP, she says, “In 2007, UPA government did not accept the MS Swaminathan commission’s suggestion of giving MSP of more than 50% of the weighted average cost of crops. They claimed this was due to the distortion it will cause in market. It was the Modi government which gave the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi.”
Earlier in the day, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also stated that the previous UPA government had declined to provide farmers with a 50 percent profit margin on the cost of crops in the minimum support price (MSP), as recommended by the M S Swaminathan Commission. During the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, Congress MP Deepender Hooda asked about the 2020-21 farmers' protests, mentioning that around 750 farmers died during the agitation.
Hooda inquired if the government plans to offer jobs to the relatives of
