Punjab’s farmers called off the protest over Minimum Support Price (MSP) for sunflower seeds. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) stood in support of the farmers who were protesting. However, the issue seems to escalate in the near future as Twitter Founder Jack Dorsey has also spilled the beans about how the Government of India pressurized him during the Farm Law protest in 2020-2022.
The committee president Harjinder Singh Dhami noted that the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee appointed by the state government was not serving ‘langar’ support to farmers. While the protest was gaining eyeballs, the government has agreed to the demands of farmers, who wanted at least Rs 6,400 as the MSP for sunflower seeds.
Farmers had blocked the NH-44 at Pipli in Kurukshetra district, Haryana. This highway connects Delhi-Chandigarh and goes to Amritsar. Farmer leader Karam Singh Mathana addressed the media, saying, “The major issue of MSP is still not solved but our meeting with the Government was successful. Today, the government has agreed to fulfill our demand.” Farmers have also raised an issue that due to unseasonal rains, a lot of crops were damaged in March-April this year.
The state government will be giving Rs 1000 per quintal as interim support for sunflower crops that were sold below the MSP.