Amid tariff talks, farmers' bodies demand MSP on all crops

As India's tariff negotiations with the United States continue, thousands of farmers under the banner of Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) gathered at Jantar Mantar on Monday, urging the Centre not to yield to American pressure.

Farmers from western Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan put forward three major demands:

• A legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) on all crops

• Exclusion of agriculture, dairy, poultry and fisheries from any proposed trade agreement with the US

• Withdrawal of police cases registered against farmers during the 2020-21 agitation

SKM (Non-Political) leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal — who led a 123-day hunger strike earlier this year — underscored the fact that the call for a legal guarantee on MSP goes beyond Punjab and Haryana.

“We want to tell the government that the demand for MSP comes not only from the farmers of Punjab and Haryana, but farmers across the country,” Dallewal said.

His hunger strike was part of a protest that began in February 2024, when thousands of farmers gathered at the Punjab-Haryana border.

Later, SKM (Political) held a separate press conference at the Press Club of India, taking a sharper line against the Centre. It demanded the government roll back its decision on import tariff cuts, ensure an MSP of Rs 10,075 per quintal for cotton, and provide Rs 25 lakh compensation to families of farmers who died by suicide.

In a statement, SKM (Political) accused the Modi government of siding with “imperialist interests” at the cost of Indian farmers.

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“Modi’s consistent pro-imperialist policies couldn’t ensure the protection of India’s interests in the tariff war initiated by Trump. To manage the fallout of the US decision to impose 50 per cent tariff on India’s textile exports, PM Modi has decided to punish Indian cotton farmers, who are the weakest link in the global supply chain,” it said.

The faction announced a series of public meetings in cotton-growing villages and said its delegations would visit Vidarbha on 17–18 September. Pointing to NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) data that showed 479 farmer suicides reported in Maharashtra in just March-April this year, the SKM (Political) reiterated its demand that both the Union and state governments enhance compensation to Rs 25 lakh, with retrospective effect from 2014.