Samyukt Kisan Morcha rejects kharif MSP, to launch protests in villages

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella organisation of about 500 farmers’ outfits, has decided to hold protests in every village by burning the copies of the government order on the minimum support price (MSP) for the kharif crops in this season. The protests will be held between May 27 and 31, the SKM said in a statement here on Friday (May 15, 2026).

The SKM said the announcement of revised MSP exposed the “anti-farmer character” of the Narendra Modi government. “Instead of implementing the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission MSP at least 50% above the comprehensive cost of cultivation (C2+50%), as promised in the BJP election manifesto of 2014, the Modi Cabinet announced MSP based on A2+FL (actual paid-out costs and the imputed value of unpaid family labour) costs that is around 30% lower in general,” the SKM said.

For paddy, the SKM argued, that the C2+50% price should have been ₹3,243 per quintal, much higher than ₹2,441 per quintal, fixed by the government. “This means a loss of ₹802 per quintal for farmers. Farmers across the country will continue to suffer huge losses on 20 crops alone. Since there is no procurement system, big traders and their intermediaries will further exploit farmers, thus making the real loss manifold,” the statement added.

The statement said the revised MSP was a result of the Modi regime’s “surrender to U.S. imperialism.” “The figures detailing Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) estimation expose the hollowness of the government’s claims that farmers are receiving remunerative prices. Even these estimates are based on official projected costs, whereas the actual cost of cultivation faced by farmers is much higher due to continuously rising prices of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, diesel, electricity, irrigation, machinery and labour,” the SKM said, adding that the prices of all inputs had skyrocketed in the last one year. “The government is now using the excuse of the West Asian crisis situation to impose even more burden on the people through its austerity call. Fertilizers have already started becoming scarce and hoarders are raking in huge profits through the black market,” the SKM said.