Punjab Farmers Demand MSP Law

Three years later once again agitating farmers are looking to blockade Delhi in their bid to get the union government to agree to their demands - which includes providing statutory backing to minimum support price (MSP), the floor price for crops.

Anil Padmanabhan
February 22, 2024 - 6:09 pm
1 minute read

Three years later once again agitating farmers, mostly from Punjab, are looking to blockade Delhi in their bid to get the union government to agree to their demands—which includes providing statutory backing to minimum support price (MSP), the floor price for crops.

Going beyond the headlines it is clear that the agitation is putting the spotlight on structural challenges facing Indian agriculture.

How reasonable is this demand? Has the idea of MSP, introduced in the late 1960s when India introduced high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice, outlived its utility? Does Indian farming in general and Punjab agriculture in particular need a reset?

To answer all this and more I spoke to Ashok Gulati. The outspoken Dr Gulati is an economist, the last word on Indian agriculture, and a previous guest on this show.