All About MSP: What is Minimum Support Price and Which Crops are covered under it?

In the past few years, Minimum Support Price (MSP) has helped the Indian farmers to fight off the impacts of financial Variance. We all might have heard about MSP in recent news or media reports but how many of us know what exactly is MSP and why the farmers are fighting for it.

What exactly is Minimum Support Price (MSP):  

The Minimum Support Price or the MSP is ordinarily known as the method of shielding the farmers in India from the vulnerabilities of the business markets as well as against those of the natural kind. The MSP acts as a safety net for the Indian farmers and is the center of the agrarian transformation that saw India changing from a food-insufficient to a food-surplus country. Throughout the past decades, Minimum Support Price (MSP) has helped the Indian farmers to fight off the impacts of financial variances. The MSP has become a significant argument after the farmer's protests arrived at the public Capital.  

Introduction of MSP in India: 

At the hour of Independence, India was gazing at a significant shortage regarding cereal creation. After the striving first decade, India chose to go for broad farming changes. It was the first run through in the year 1966-67 that the Minimum Support Price was presented by the Center. The MSP for wheat was fixed at Rs 54 for each quintal for the first time. 

Why did the need arise to introduce MSP: 

While going through the Green Revolution, Indian policymakers understood that the farmers required motivations to develop food crops. Else, they won't pick crops, like wheat and paddy as they require extensive work and didn't bring rewarding prices. Consequently, to boost the farmers and lift creation, the MSP was presented during the 1960s. 

Legality of MSP: 

The answer is “No”. The MSP is being provided by the centre to the wheat and paddy ranchers since the mid-60s to hold over the food emergency, the reality remains that the MSP doesn't have any lawful stature. 

Crops covered under MSP in India: 

As of now, the Center covers 23 crops under the MSP. These incorporate cereals such as bajra, wheat, maize, paddy barley, ragi and jowar; pulses like tur, chana, masur, urad and moong; oilseeds such as safflower, mustard, niger seed, soyabean, groundnut, sesame and sunflower. The MSP also covers commercial crops of raw jute, cotton, copra and sugarcane. 

How government frames the MSP:  

In our country, there are two significant cropping seasons, in particular 'Rabi' and 'Kharif'.  

- The govt. reports the MSP towards the beginning of both cropping season i.e. Rabi and Kharif.  

- The MSP is framed after the government comprehensively contemplates the significant focuses made by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices. 

- These proposals depend on a few pre-fixed formulas. The formula incorporates the genuine cost incurred, implicit family labour and the fixed assets or the rent paid by the farmers. 

- In specialized terms, these factors are called A2, FL and C2. The MSP is determined by the Govt. by regularly adding all these.