The farmers’ body calls for burning of MSP orders in villages during the nationwide May 27-31 protest campaign
NEW DELHI —Launching a blistering attack on the Narendra Modi government, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Friday accused it of systematically betraying farmers for the past 12 years by denying them legally guaranteed remunerative prices and deepening the agrarian crisis through “pro-corporate” and “WTO-driven” policies.
The farmers’ umbrella body condemned the Union Cabinet’s announcement of Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for Kharif crops for 2026–27, alleging that the government had once again rejected the long-pending demand for MSP at “C2+50%” — 50 per cent above the comprehensive cost of cultivation as recommended by the National Commission on Farmers.
Calling the MSP declaration a “fraud on farmers,” the SKM said the government continued to calculate MSP on the lower A2+FL formula instead of the comprehensive C2 formula, causing massive financial losses to cultivators across the country.
“For paddy alone, farmers are losing Rs 802 per quintal,” the statement said, noting that while the government fixed the MSP at Rs 2,441 per quintal, the price under the Swaminathan formula should have been Rs 3,243.
The organisation claimed that farmers cultivating 20 major crops would collectively suffer losses worth nearly Rs 3 lakh crore because of the Centre’s pricing policy, adding that the absence of effective procurement systems was forcing cultivators into distress sales below MSP.
In a sharp political attack, the SKM accused the Modi government of “surrendering India’s food sovereignty to US imperialism and WTO dictates.” It said the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) was deliberately suppressing the real cost of cultivation by relying on outdated Wholesale Price Index calculations while input costs continued to skyrocket.
“Farmers are paying today’s prices for diesel, fertilisers, pesticides and labour, but are being paid based on 2011-12 cost calculations,” the statement alleged, terming it “criminal manipulation.”
The SKM also linked the worsening agrarian distress to rising farmer suicides. Citing the latest National Crime Records Bureau figures, it said the combined daily average of suicides among farmers and labourers had risen from 77 deaths per day in 2014 to 173 deaths per day in 2024.
“While farmers drown in debt, the Modi regime is waiving lakhs of crores in corporate loans,” the organisation alleged, claiming that peasants had cumulatively lost nearly Rs 27 lakh crore between 2014 and 2024 because of the denial of MSP at C2+50%.
The SKM further warned that fertiliser shortages and black-marketing were increasing amid global tensions in West Asia, worsening the burden on farmers already struggling with rising cultivation costs.
Describing the fight for MSP as a battle to defend farmers’ livelihoods and India’s sovereignty, the SKM announced a nationwide protest campaign from May 27 to May 31, calling upon farmers to burn copies of the MSP order in villages across the country.
The protests, it said, would expose what it called the Modi government’s “12 years of continuous betrayal of farmers and working people.”
