The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella group of farmer unions, rejected the government's committee on minimum support prices on Tuesday, claiming that its members include farmer leaders who backed the now-repealed agricultural legislation.
The administration constituted a committee on Minimum Support Price (MSP) on Monday, eight months after promising to do so while repealing three contentious agriculture bills.
The committee will be chaired by former Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agrawal. The government has made provision for three members of the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) to serve on the panel.
"We met today with non-political leaders of Samyukta Kisan Morcha. The government's panel was rejected by all leaders. The government has appointed so-called farmer leaders to the panel who had nothing to do with our agitation at the Delhi borders against the three agricultural laws "Abhimanyu Kohar, a farmer leader, said to a news agency.
According to Kohar, the administration has also appointed several business representatives to the MSP panel. According to the farmer leader, the SKM will publish a full statement on their position later that evening.
Thousands of farmers had staged a year-long revolt at Delhi's borders, forcing the government to rescind agricultural legislation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to form up a committee to address farmers' demand for a legal guarantee on MSP when he announced the repeal of three farm laws in November last year.
The Agriculture Ministry announced the formation of the committee in a gazette notice.
Niti Aayog member Ramesh Chand will be on the panel, as well agri-economists CSC Shekhar from the Indian Institute of Economic Development and Sukhpal Singh from IIM-Ahmedabad, as well as the senior member of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) Naveen P Singh.
The Agriculture Ministry announced the formation of the committee in a gazette noticeThe group also includes senior members of agricultural institutions, five central government secretaries, and the chief secretaries of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, and Odisha.
