Regarding the ongoing issue of farms law and Minimum Support Prize (MSP) in the country, AFPR took an initiative to spread awareness about the contemporary issues related to MSP and organized a webinar on “Understanding the origin and Contemporary idea of MSP and how it affects regional politics”. The aim of the webinar was to provide a gist of the MSP and how it affects the regional politics. With laws in dispute being Farmers’ Produce Trade & Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Act 2020 (FPTC Act), Farmers’ Empowerment & Protection Agreement on price Assurance & Farm Service Act 2020 and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020.
The webinar was conducted to explain about the issue i.e., MSP (stands for Minimum Support Prices) which ensures the farmers an assured amount from the government even if they fail to sell their products in the open market. This was introduced with the aim of growth in the agricultural sector and how the policies and schemes vary depending upon the demographics of the region, where some areas have higher production than the others. New farm bill did not talk about the MSP, and earlier too there was no written provision regarding this in the existing laws.
The foundation with the help of this webinar tried to explain the concept of MSP & also tried to resolve the confusion of attendees related to this issue with the help of our Hon’ble Speaker Dr. Maya Kant Awasthi, Advisor- Centre for Economic Studies on 2nd January, 2021. Dr. Awasthi is a professor at Food and Agribusiness Centre of IIM, Lucknow. Our guest speaker was instrumental in explaining the impact of these new laws on farmers’ lives and also gave us an idea regarding their issue for protest. This webinar made the general public aware about the recent developments in a simplified manner that helped not only students but also academicians showing interest in the issue.
AFPR took an initiative towards this and we successfully organized this webinar and a significant number of students enrolled with us to gain fruitful information through the webinar which led us in achieving our aim of conducting it.