The Farm Bills recently introduced by the Congress government in Rajasthan to combat the centre’s new farm laws, are quiet when it comes to implementing the MSP (minimum support price) in sales that take place inside and outside the agricultural produce market committee (APMC) derived mandi mechanism, unlike Punjab.

The Farm bills passed in Rajasthan to counter the problems of the central farm bills, speak about executing the MSP; but it is only limited to contract farming. This is different from the Bills passed by the congress government in Punjab which have clearly defined the enactment of MSP for purchase of two crops- Wheat and Paddy. No sale of wheat or paddy shall be authentic in Punjab unless the price paid for such agricultural produce is equal or greater than the MSP declared by the central government for that crop as suggested by the CACP.

In Rajasthan, there is an arrangement for punishment for those who pressurize a farmer to sell his produce below the MSP, but this is limited only to contract farming (Rajasthan Amendment Bill). Another bill tabled this Saturday, in Rajasthan assembly, proposed that harassment of farmers will be punishable by imprisonment or fine. But, it does not specify any particular crop as in the case of Punjab.

Apart from this, officials from the state Agricultural Marketing Department told that since 2005, there has been no formal registration of contract farming since it was included in the Rajasthan APMC act. Currently the purchasing of food-grain crops in Rajasthan is mainly carried out from the APMC mandi mechanism and frequently farmers get prices even more than the MSP at mandis. But, farrmers’ leaders such as Kisan Pareek (a member of AIKS- all india kisan sabha) from Sikar district state that in many cases, even after going to mandis, farmers have to vend off their produce at much lesser prices. This is evidenced by the data on the government website which states that pearl millet (bajra) for which the MSP is fixed at Rs 2150 per quintal was sold at the Srimadhopur market (Sikar district) at a maximum price of Rs 1428 per quintal.

Govind Singh Dotasara, state education minister and Rajasthan congress president stated that the centre fixes its target for procurement at MSP from each state and 100% procurement is done in Punjab, which is not the case with Rajasthan. In a statement which betrayed a sense of evasion as to why only contract farming was brought under MSP implementation, Dotasara said that since the MSP is a central subject, the question remains of what would happen (in blanket implementation of MSP)  if 100% procurement is not carried out at MSP.

The author is a member of Amity centre of Happiness.