Congress highlights recommendations of Parliament panel calling for legal guarantee for MSP

The Congress on Thursday highlighted a parliamentary standing committee's recommendations of a legal guarantee for MSP and loan waivers for farmers. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said that the Parliament Standing Committee of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing under the chairmanship of Charanjit Channi has released its Demand for Grants report for 2025-2026.

"It has made some key recommendations -- Reiteration of its earlier recommendations on legal guarantee for MSP and a loan waivers for farmers; extension of MSP to organic crops; financial assistance to farmers for crop residue management to avoid stubble burning," Ramesh pointed out.

The panel has also recommended universal crop insurance for small farmers and renaming the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare as Department of Agriculture, Farmers and Farm Labourers Welfare to acknowledge the role of farm labourers, he said.


The panel has also reiterated its earlier recommendation of incentives for farmers and farm labourers to care for non-productive cattle, Ramesh said.

It has called for increasing the procurement limit under the Market Intervention Scheme from the current 25 per cent to 50 per cent of the total estimated production, the Congress leader said.

The panel has also called for annual audits of the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SCSP) by the CAG to improve transparency and public trust, he said.