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The Rajasthan government is contemplating amending its Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act to penalise traders who buy agricultural commodities at prices lower than the minimum support price (MSP) set by the State.
This was a major consensus that emerged between the State government and farmers who ended their agitation recently, a senior State government official told BusinessLine over telephone from Jaipur.
Though there is a guideline in the APMC Act that states traders should buy agricultural commodities that have an MSP at least at the rates fixed, there is no provision to penalise those who flout this rule. The amendment is expected to make it compulsory for traders to give at least the MSP to farmers.
The draft amendment is expected to be ready in a month, he said. If the amendment is cleared by the State Assembly, Rajasthan may be one of the first States in the country to insert stringent conditions in the APMC Act. One of the major contentions of agitating farmers all over the country is that traders have been forcing them to sell their produce at prices lower than MSP.
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