Amid the ongoing Delhi Chalo March by farmers, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Textiles and Commerce & Industry, Piyush Goyal on Thursday thanked farmers of the country for their contribution towards making India self-sufficient and making the country a large producer of food grains, pulses, lentils, vegetables, fruits. He credited the farmers for enabling India to become an exporter of over $50 billion of agri and related products.

He was speaking at the NAFED: Pulse 2024 Convention organized by Global Pulse Confederation in co-operation with co-operative major National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED).

On Minimum Support Price (MSP), Piyush Goyal said that MSP today assures a price 50 per cent over the actual cost of production to our farmers, thereby providing an attractive return on investment. The Union Minister also said that the MSP is the highest today over the amount provided a decade back.

The Delhi Chalo March led by Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) and Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) has entered its third day today. They are demanding for a law that guarantees MSP among others.

The Central Government has drawn criticism for stopping the farmers from entering Delhi by putting barricades, iron nails, barbed wires and concrete barriers on the roads along with a large number of security personnel stationed in the borders. Police have been also been using tear gas and shooting rubber pellets against farmers to prevent them from advancing into the Capital.

The third round of talks will be held with the farmer unions on Thursday in Chandigarh where Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Tribal Affairs, Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Arjun Munda and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai will be representing the Union Government.

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