Form income panel to protect livelihood of farmers: Analyst

A prominent agriculture analyst has proposed setting up of income commission at national and state levels for farmers, which will guarantee them specific monthly income against the backdrop of agrarian crisis.
"An income commission should be formed for farmers, under which they would be entitled to get a minimum monthly income on the basis of their production and the area under cultivation," said Devinder Sharma.
He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a seminar wherein organic farming policy of Gujarat Government was unveiled.
"If a peon earns Rs 15,000 (per month) and a farmer Rs 3,000 then there is a need to think about our farmers," he said.

Stressing that Minimum Support Price (MSP) policy has lost its utility, Sharma said it was high-time to introduce a income policy for farmers wherein they should be given an assured income each month.
"...There is a need to form a 'National Farmers Income Commission' at the national level and 'State Farmers Income Commission' at the state level," he added.

Sharma said the idea was not new and had got traction from previous Karnataka Government.
"We have made representations before government to form farmers' commission. Previous Karnataka Government had announced setting of a farmers' income commission, but it (the proposal) went into cold storage after the government changed there. Our policy-makers have also accepted that we have to look into the income policy for farmers," he said, adding farmers must get direct income since earning from agriculture is lesser even after adding MSP.

"We will take this issue to public forum," he said.