The Modi government announced to increase the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of rabi crops including wheat by Rs 110, barley by Rs 100, gram by Rs 105. The recent announcement by the Modi government to increase the (MSP) of agricultural grains needs to be analysed in a larger context.
The comparative study of increase in the MSP during the one decade of the Modi government and one decade of the Manmohan government reveals that the proportional increase in MSP during the Manmohan government was almost two to three times higher than increase in MSP during the Modi government.
The highest MSP increase between 2013-14 to 2023-24 was 72.33 percent in the price of Moong from Rs 4500 to Rs 7755. The highest increase in MSP between 2003-04 to 2013-14 was 228.47 percent in the price of Moong from Rs 1370 to Rs 4500.
Almost similar is the case with the other agricultural grains where the proportional increase in MSP during the Manmohan government ranges from 122.22 percent to 228.47 percent, the proportional increase in MSP during the Modi government is merely between 51.79 percent to 72.33 percent.
Before anyone jumps into the conclusion of making any argument in favour of the Modi government for the recent increase in the MSP one also needs to understand that this is the same Modi government who tried to bring three anti-farmers bills in the parliament despite continuous protest from the farming community across the country.
This is also the same Modi government who went on to defame the farmer protests as seperatist, anti-nationals and Khalistani etc. This is the same Modi government who came to power in a strong nexus with big capitalists like Ambani and Adani.
The anti-farmer policies of the Modi government also reflected in the annual growth rate of agriculture in India. The growth rate of the farming sector in India during the year 2005-06 to 2014-15 was 3.6 percent and this came down to 2 percent during 2015 to 2020.
[Anupriya is a PhD scholar at Patna University, and the spokesperson of Janata Dal (United). Courtesy: Countercurrents.org.]
