On 7th November, the Supreme Court of India questioned the Punjab government if phasing out paddy MSP was an option to consider controlling pollution. The apex court called for serious consideration of a proposal to phase out paddy cultivation in the state to encourage farmers to shift to traditional crops, including millets. The two-judge bench comprising Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia was hearing petitions related to stubble burning in Punjab and pollution created by the practice.
Replying to the court, advocate general of Punjab Gurminder Singh highlighted the need to phase out paddy cultivation and agreed that removing MSP from paddy could be an “absolute one-day solution”. He said, “Then it will be an absolute one-day solution… Farmers will shift to other crops like millet and bajra. We need to diversify our crops. Provide for MSP on these alternate crops to incentivise farmers… There is no point in arresting marginal farmers for burning paddy stubble in Punjab… And we do not want to pass the buck for pollution to other States, but we want to be part of a progressive solution.”
While agreeing to Singh’s submissions that MSP was required on alternate crops, the court noted that paddy cultivation in the state had contributed extensively to the declining water table. It has resulted in a serious loss of valuable groundwater resources. Notably, paddy is not a staple crop of Punjab, and it was introduced in the state under the Food Security Act to support public distribution schemes. Heavy incentives were given to the farmers, making paddy a lucrative option.
Justice Kaul pointed out that MSP on paddy led to smuggling of the crop from neighbouring states. He said, “Paddy grown in adjacent States is illegally brought to Punjab to claim MSP.”
The AG represents the Mann government in court, but interestingly, AAP’s politics on paddy MSPs has been totally contradictory over the years.
Interestingly, during the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta questioned why Punjab was not using the biochemicals to change stubble to fertiliser that was being promoted by the Chief Minister of Delhi and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal for years. He questioned if Kejriwal’s counterpart in Punjab, Bhagwant Singh Mann, was open to adopting the suggestions coming from the “highest authority in Delhi”.
On 7th November, OpIndia reported how, over the years, Arvind Kejriwal had spent crores promoting a solution developed by IARI, Pusa that reportedly converts stubble to fertiliser and had urged Punjab and other states to adopt it as an option. However, as soon as the AAP-led government came to power in Punjab, the emphasis on the solution virtually vanished from the discussion.
पूसा इंस्टीट्यूट की बायो-डिकम्पोज़र तकनीक के रुप में अब हमें पराली का समाधान मिल गया है। हमने दिल्ली में उसे कामयाब करके दिखाया है। ये समाधान सस्ता भी है और आसान भी।
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) November 13, 2020
प्रदूषण के ख़िलाफ़ इस लड़ाई में दिल्ली ने इच्छाशक्ति दिखाई है, अब बारी दूसरे राज्यों की है। pic.twitter.com/aOhRZIov1O
Following the hearing, AAP’s spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang demanded that Centre and Haryana should set up funds to tackle stubble burning. AAP also demanded MSP for alternate crops. Accusing the central government of rejecting the proposal to set up a fund to tackle the problem, he said, “Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal have asked the Haryana government and the Modi government to set up a fund to tackle this problem, but the Centre has rejected the proposal. Now the Supreme Court has directed all governments, including the central government, to take measures to stop stubble burning and curb the pollution in Delhi.”
Notably, the proposal he was talking about was to pressure the central government to pay Rs 1,500 of the Rs 2,500 per acre proposed by AAP to pay to farmers as compensation for not burning stubble, while Punjab and Delhi would have paid Rs 500 to pay farmers not to burn stubble.
Interestingly, while the Supreme Court slammed Punjab for not doing “enough” to control stubble burning, followed by AAP’s demands to introduce MSP on alternate crops, AAP leaders had earlier given a clean chit to Punjab, saying the stubble burning in the AAP-led state was not affecting the air quality of the national capital. They had blamed stubble burning in Haryana for the pollution in Delhi. However, the satellite data showed stubble burning in Haryana in the last ten days was minuscule compared to Punjab.
AAP played MSP politics on paddy for years
For years, Aam Aadmi Party leaders have played MSP politics to gain brownie points from all directions. In June 2017, AAP’s Odisha Unit observed a state-wide protest pressuring the Central government to increase MSP. The party leaders claimed the hike in MSP was not enough to cover the farmers’ cost.
In July 2018, AAP categorically rejected the raise in Paddy MSP, claiming it was not on par with the promise made by the central government. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), AAP’s MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira said the MSP was nowhere close to the fixed 50 percent over and above the cost of inputs.
Aap rejects inappropriate raise in Paddy Msp,its nowhere near the promise of Msp to be fixed 50% over n above d cost of inputs! Rates of diesel,labor,fertilisers etc are sky high!Unfair pricing of crops has landed farmers in debt n suicides,why can’t govt’s see writing on d wall?
— Sukhpal Singh Khaira (@SukhpalKhaira) July 5, 2018
In January 2019, Delhi’s Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, announced an MSP increase for wheat and paddy crops. Notably, the announcement came months before the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. The raise was expected to benefit 20,000 farmer families in the national capital. The announced MSP was Rs 776 per quintal higher for wheat and Rs 897 for paddy.
Coming to Punjab in 2022, AAP announced MSP on moong and maize apart from wheat, paddy and cotton provided by the central government. The aim was to introduce diversification in the crops. AAP used the announcement as a political promise in the Gujarat elections. AAP’s chief, Arvind Kejriwal, said the same MSP would be provided in Gujarat if the party came to power. However, soon after the announcement, the farmer organisations and opposition parties in Punjab slammed the AAP leaders for misleading the people of Gujarat.
They said that while the central government provides MSP on wheat, paddy and cotton, the Punjab Government had announced MSP on moong and maize. However, MSP on Maize was not given, and in the case of moong, the farmers had to sell the crop at a much lower price than MSP.
In 2023, BJP, Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal targeted AAP for low procurement of moong and maize by the state government. By the end of June 2023, the opposition leaders alleged that the procurement stood at only 2,280 quintals of moong compared to 9,902 quintals purchased in 2022. Notably, farmers had shifted to moong on CM Mann’s “request” to introduce diversification as he promised to buy the crop at MSP.
Then-Punjab BJP president Ashwani Sharma accused AAP of running away from buying maize and moong at MSP and said the farmers were forced to sell the crops at low prices.
In the case of maize, the MSP was set at Rs 2,090 by the state government. However, the farmers had to sell it at Rs 1,900 per quintal as the state government failed to procure the crop.
