A Comprehensive look into the MSP Criteria & Indian Agriculture

The uproar over Minimum Support Price (MSP) & the ensuing tussle between certain Farmer Groups and the ruling establishment is well known to all. In a very brief sense, MSP is the pre-determined price at which Governmental Bodies procure crops from the Farmers in case the market price falls below a specific level. The logic behind such a policy is to ensure the losses that a Farmer would incur if he sold his crops at the behest of market forces would be covered if the same was purchased by the Govt. at equivalent price instead. 

In recent years, ever since the debacle over the Farm Laws that were repealed in 2020 (a separate issue in which we're not delving right now) has subsided, new splinter groups have emerged modifying and enlarging their demand from rollback of the Laws to 'legalisation' of MSP under which governments would be bound to offer MSPs at equivalent/higher than prices set by market forces irrespective of the situation for all 23 crops or so, instead of wheat, rice, sugarcane yields that it usually covers. This would also mean MSP would be elevated from a mere subsidy-based framework to a policy with rigid legal status & mandated enforcement. 

There was a pushback to such demands from majority of the quarters since granting such a demand would cause the exchequer receipts of some 'lakh-crores' with the potential to bankrupt the entire economy or at the very least cause disruption to avenues that are paramount to the Indian State & capital intensive as well. On the other side, there were also those who felt the demands were justified given that a majority of Indian workforce is engaged in agriculture and this would be a way to ensure them disposable income that would lead to domestic consumption & contain any chance of rural distress. I make an honest admission that while my own ideology straddles between brute capitalism & welfarism in equal measure and I sympathise with the farming class, I do not share the idea of MSP & instead advocated its total removal. On a much careful & mature reading however, my stand has somewhat mutated into one where it sees MSP's merits in sustaining Indian agriculture while neutering the dwindling of natural resources.

Today, most MSP benefits are eaten up by Farming Units in Punjab, Haryana to a large extent where the main grown crops are wheat & paddy (rice), which coincidentally also consume bulk of the MSP funds by crop-share. This is a problem that is vastly more acute & disastrous when taken in context of Punjab, where system and the populace has systematically abused the MSP policy by fixating on water guzzling paddy crop even when it was not native to the state. It has meant that the area of paddy crops continues to grow at an "alarming" rate, an admission made by the AG of Punjab Govt himself in a state that geographically is classified as "arid" with breakneck depletion of groundwater. This depletion rate is so fast that the state is expected to 'run out' of groundwater in the next few years, coupled with topsoil salinification due to excessive pesticide usage that mainly gives rise to low quality rice varieties. It must be noted that the best quality rice varieties are sourced from states like MP & UP while the Punjab stocks form the bulk of government sourced produce distributed to a public of 80 crore for free under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY). 

In addition to this, the monsoon pattern is undergoing a dramatic shift with the Gangetic Plains receiving lower & lower rainfall on a year-on-year basis. This has consequences for the future of Indian Agriculture since this plentiful & fertile region produces a variety of crops that sustains the appetite of many Indians. This shift, has also meant that otherwise dry areas of Western India & the Central Plains are recording far greater rainfall & short duration intense rain spells spelling doom in a larger context if agricultural trends are not modified accordingly. 

So where does my mutated stand regarding MSP & resource conservation fall into this picture?

This much is clear to anyone upon reading the situation of Punjab, Gangetic Plains that an urgent shift from water guzzling crops is needed. Aridification in Punjab & Low Monsoon activity over the Plains both imply that riverine resources would soon be insufficient to cover agri, domestic & industrial needs altogether, if, the current crop varieties are still given primacy. It is of paramount importance to lead a shift of crop-pattern and the obstinacy of Indian Junta in general is well-known towards such policy-matters. Broadening of MSP regime comes into the picture effortlessly here. The benefits & guarantees normally reserved for wheat-paddy crops can be slowly withdrawn and cover other crops that are not as water intensive as these - Jowar, Bajra & Ragi that offer far higher nutritional value & are much more resilient against irrigation-shocks. A combination of these Millets-Pulses grown & encouraged under the ambit of MSP would preserve the water table and also induce a healthy, fertile topsoil as the concept of mixed cropping pattern is well known to most of us.

It is no wonder that the Indian Govt recently proposed to the United Nations that 2023 be celebrated as 'International Year of Millets' under the tagline "Because millets use less water to produce and grow in less time, they can be alternatives to imported cereals. Millets also have high nutritional values." This shift also houses a hidden health advantage that both the Indian public and its policymakers have ignored for a really long time. The traditional Indian diet excessively & aggressively contains carbohydrates, some amount of fats & very low amounts of protein. This phenomenon dubbed as 'carbslopping' is the reason why hordes of Indian men & women are 'skinny fat' and afflicted with lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, high grade obesity & even heart diseases. 

Replacing these carbohydrates with nutritious millets & pulses promises a much needed shift in the diet-pattern with a balanced amount of carbohydrates & greater amount of plant protein. It is not difficult to image & extrapolate the benefits that this change will seed including making Indians a more fitter race & eliminating propensity of these lifestyle diseases that plug a hole in our expenses. The guaranteed benefits of such a minor change in the MSP structure is immense, and in a sense, it is up to the citizens to realise it for themselves & push for it. Kill 3 birds with 1 stone - Rural Distress, Dwindling Resources & Health Issues afflicting Indians.

Or so do I think!