 Hello and welcome to NewsClick. Today we have with us Viju Krishnan, the Joint Secretary of All India Kisan Sabha, an organisation that has been leading massive farmer struggles across the country, demanding basic rights for farmers to ensure their livelihood in wake of the rising number of farmer suicides in the country. So, we want to discuss with you today the MSP, the issue of MSP and how we've seen that there has been a delay in the announcement of MSP. Ideally when should this have been announced and what impact does it have when it's announced late? No, usually well in advance of the sowing. That would be the ideal thing so that there is an incentive for the farmers to cultivate a particular crop. But over the years, especially after the Narendra Modi led BJP government has come, the MSP announced itself is acting as a incentive to the farmers. Usually by June, early June this should have been announced. That has not happened. And given the nature of the kind of hopes that had been raised by the BJP and Narendra Modi during the 2014 election campaign, much was expected. Unfortunately nothing has been done at all in favour of the farmers as far as the MSP is concerned. So, what is the impact when this announcement is delayed and what is the situation right now? No, usually in a particular season the farmers would think about planting a particular crop. But when there is a possibility that there is a better pricing and the farmers would go in for that crop in a much bigger area. Unfortunately that is not coming now and it is only according to the farmers' own consideration they would go in to cultivate a particular crop. So, if at all a government has an interest of let us say trying to increase the area of acreage and the pulses, then ensuring an MSP which is much higher than the earlier year that would have given an incentive to the farmers. That unfortunately is not coming. And talking about the MSP itself because in this budget also it was announced that now it is according to the Swaminathan Commission which has been a demand since long that the prices should be according to that which is 50% higher than the cost of production. But we see that the formula which is being used is different so the cost hasn't been that high either. It is actually fooling the they are making an effort to fool the farmers and they initially they had said C2 plus 50%. Now they are talking about A2 plus FL plus 50%. If you see the difference in C2 plus FL and A2 plus FL and C2 costs, it ranges between about 30% to 40% higher. The C2 costs are about 30% to 40% higher than the A2 plus FL costs. If you see I would like to even give examples of Arhar and Moong for instance. It is about the C2 costs are about 1300 to 1500 rupees per quintal higher than the A2 plus FL costs. So they are actually fooling the farming community by saying now shifting the gold posts and saying that they are already giving A2 plus FL plus 50%. That is what is happening. So what has been the reaction of the farmers to this? No naturally the farmers are quite upset. Firstly this MSP that is being announced that is only notional. There is no procurement for most crops. I think it is only paddy and wheat to a certain extent and in some places the pulses and cotton that is being procured. In most other crops there is no procurement also. Even paddy and wheat if you see most parts of North India that is UP, Bihar, Bengal also parts of the country like Odisha, Jharkhand there is no procurement. So farmers are being forced to sell at distressed prices. Paddy they are getting something between 800 to 1200 per quintal only. So that is because if there is no assured procurement this MSP announced does not in any way help the farmers of our country. Do you know what have been the figure what has been the procurement rate in last season? See I think even for paddy and wheat it is below 20% of procurement. If you see the country as a whole and also the kind of losses that farmers are suffering because of the C2 plus 50 formula not being implemented. According to an estimate is more than 3 lakh crores. So that is the kind of losses that the farmers are suffering because of it. And each time even certain crops like sugarcane we can see farmers are selling their crops and still mounting arrears. Thousands of crores of arrears that are there which the sugar mills are yet to give to the farming community. So that is so they are never able to come out of the distress that these policies have led to. And there is also this notion that if we increase the MSP to March and there will be an inflation in food prices all of that will rise. So what is that true? No actually if the government is interested there are ways in which the costs of production can be reduced. Ensure that there would be quality inputs provided at subsidized rates. There are efforts in that direction in some of the states. Now for instance in Kerala the panchayat that I belong to provides around 17,000 per hectare as an incentive for paddy cultivation. So naturally that leads to reduced costs of cultivation. Part of the cost of cultivation is borne by the panchayat. So if that is a big help for the farming community. And then you could keep even the prices for the consumers at a lower level. So this thing of trying to pit the consumers versus the farmers that is I think not at all proper. Because earlier also if you see the example of pulses Arhar or Tur the farmers were getting something between 30 to 40 rupees a kg. Whereas consumers were selling it at buying it at 220 rupees a kg. So how is the there is no connect between the MSP and the price that the consumer pays at all. And also you talked about the input cost there were also promises made of reducing the input cost. Reducing the input cost but nothing has come of that. It is the input cost they have decontrolled and all the prices whether it is fertilizers or the other input seeds. The prices are increasing it is the companies that determine the price there is no price control at all. So that is something unless you control the prices of the inputs naturally the costs are going to increase. And why should farmers alone bear the burden of that? Farmers are feeding the country it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that they are given their livelihood security is ensured. So we do what is then now the mood of the farmers what is the mood of the country and is Kisan Sabha planning to do anything about these conditions now. The farmers are extremely angry with this government they see this as the most anti-farm government ever since independence. And surely there have been lot of protests taking place across the country. The All India Kisan Sabha has planned out a series of protest actions. We are already we are on a signature campaign collecting 10 crore signatures on the main demands of the farmers and agriculture workers. And that on August 9th which is the anniversary of the Quit India movement. We would be handing over district collect rates and we would also have a jail barrow on August 9th with the slogan Kisan Virodi BJP Modi Gaddi Chhodo. That is and there is a strong imprint in the minds of the farmers that BJP Modi Kisan Virodi. How much ever they are making an effort to campaign or trying to hoodwink the farmers with some slogans. They are not able to wash that away. So that is coming to haunt them and going to haunt them in coming days. On September 5th we are having a massive Mazdoor Kisan Sangars rally in which over 5 lakh agriculture workers, peasants and working class would be coming to Delhi. And that will be a historic protest in coming days. So thank you Viju for joining us today. Thank you for watching this clip.