MSP, mandis here to stay: FM reassures protesters

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has sought to address the fears of protesting farmers in her budget. She reiterated the government’s commitment to the welfare of farmers and said the minimum support price (MSP) regime and Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs or mandis) would continue.

The budget has proposed to raise agriculture credit target by 10% to Rs 16.5 lakh crore and double the micro-irrigation fund to Rs 10,000 crore. However, the allocation for the PM-KISAN Scheme, under which Rs 6,000 is given to farmers annually, has been reduced to Rs 65,000 crore from Rs 75,000 crore for this fiscal year.

Sitharaman said the MSP payment to farmers had seen a quantum jump since 2013-14 when the Modi government took over. She said APMCs could access the Rs 1 lakh crore agriculture infrastructure fund to strengthen their marketing infrastructure.