Centre working on cover for farmers in case of an MSP hit

The Centre is mulling compensating farmers for any loss if price of a crop fall below the MSP under the price deficiency mechanism, much on the lines of Madhya Pradesh's Bhavantar Bugtan Yojana.

NITI Aayog has been asked to put in place a fool-proof mechanism to ensure farmers get adequate price for their produce. A senior Aayog official said that theoretically there can be various ways of doing this, including adopting the MP scheme for the entire country, procuring the crop at the MSP and lastly roping in private traders to procure the crops.

DEA secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said the scheme would not be a big fiscal burden. “NITI has been tasked with this job. There are experiments going on in the country with “’Bhavantar’ in Madhya Pradesh and the price assurance scheme and the MIP of earlier time," he said adding a consolidated view will be taken after consulting all stakeholders.