Swaminathan Commission Recommendations, Formation, Objectives

Context: The protesting Punjab farmers have a series of demands, the legal guarantee for the procurement of all crops at Minimum Support Prices (MSP) and MSP to be determined based on the recommendations of the Dr. Swaminathan Commission.

Swaminathan Commission: An Overview

• The Swaminathan Committee refers to the National Commission on Farmers (NCF), which was headed by Professor M.S. Swaminathan, a renowned agricultural scientist.
• Formation: The NCF was constituted on November 18, 2004, by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Government of India.
• Membership: Alongside Professor M.S. Swaminathan, the committee had two full-time members, four part-time members, and a member secretary.
• Objective: The Commission was tasked with creating a sustainable and viable farming system in India by addressing issues such as food and nutrition security and enhancing productivity, profitability, and sustainability.
• Reports: The NCF submitted five reports between December 2004 and October 2006.

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Swaminathan Commission Recommendations

Key recommendations made by the Swaminathan Committee include:

• Ensuring timely and adequate Minimum Support Price (MSP). The NCF recommended that MSP should be at least 50% more than the weighted average cost of production.
• Enhancing the implementation of MSP across different regions of the country.
• The cost of production should be a primary consideration for determining MSP, and factors such as risk and post-harvest expenses should be taken into account by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).
• The committee did not recommend a legal guarantee for MSP or the calculation formula (C2+50%) that is currently being demanded by some farmer unions.
• Advocacy for a New Deal for Women in Agriculture to provide them with necessary support services, credit, and extension services.
• Establishment of Farm Schools in the fields of innovative farmers to spread knowledge and best practices.
• Creation of a National Board for a New Deal for Women in Agriculture under the leadership of the Union Food and Agriculture Minister.
• Suggested the establishment of grain banks and community food banks, and the setting up of advanced soil testing labs.

Implementation

While the committee’s recommendations were comprehensive, not all have been fully implemented, and some have become points of contention in ongoing farmer agitations, particularly regarding MSP.

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