New Delhi, The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre and others on a plea to accord weightage to states' proposal on the exact cost of cultivation while fixing minimum support price (MSP). A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi agreed to hear the plea and issued notices to the Centre, Directorate General of Foreign Trade and the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, seeking their response on the plea.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioners, said the plea raises a very important issue related to the farmers in the country. He stated that Indian farmers are facing a terrible financial crisis because of being unable to sell their produce even at their actual cost of production.
The plea said that the MSP was often fixed below the actual cost of cultivation. The bench observed that a lot of mathematical formulas were being cited in the petition and difficulty may arise in case of cost of land and capital which may vary from state to state.
The petitioners have also prayed to the court to issue direction to the states and Union territories to waive all outstanding agricultural loans of farmers, in view of the alleged continuing failure of the MSP framework to ensure recovery of cost of cultivation and the resultant agrarian distress.
