The State government should bring in legislation to guarantee minimum support price to farmers for their agricultural produce, Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said on Saturday.
Addressing a farmers’ meet organised by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, Mr. Chennithala said the Opposition would move the Supreme Court against the contentious farm laws introduced by the Centre. The opening up of the sector to corporates will adversely impact food production and the future of farmers, he said.
Inaugurating the meet, All India Congress Committee general secretary Tariq Anwar said the Congress would continue its struggle until the farm laws are withdrawn.
The Narendra Modi government passed the Bills in Parliament without taking farmers into confidence. The Prime Minister did not discuss the Bills with farmer organisations or political parties. The Central government was solely concerned about corporate interests in this matter, Mr. Anwar alleged.
In passing the farm laws, the Centre has struck at the very roots of federal principles, KPCC president Mullapally Ramachandran said. In its haste to get the Bills passed, ‘the Centre did not take Parliament into confidence or follow its procedures,’ Mr. Ramachandran said.
Minimum support price would have been guaranteed to farmers if the Centre had implemented the M. S. Swaminathan committee recommendation that the MSP should be fixed at 50% more than the weighted average of the production cost, Mr. Ramachandran said.
