NEW DELHI, AUGUST 19: Former Lok Sabha MP V Sobhanadreeswara Rao moved the Supreme Court seeking directives for a statutory Minimum Support Price framework covering all notified crops, invoking the Swaminathan Commission’s cost-plus-50-percent pricing formula.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant agreed to hear the matter and tagged it with an ongoing petition regarding agricultural price-setting methodologies. The PIL argues that establishing a statutory MSP floor based on comprehensive cultivation costs remains essential to halt distress sales and protect rural livelihoods.
Beyond price guarantees, the petition highlights systemic agrarian distress, asking the court to order a time-bound debt relief policy and a one-time crop loan waiver for vulnerable smallholders. The plea advocates framing a central law similar to the Kerala Farmers’ Debt Relief Commission Act alongside measures to expand institutional credit access and reduce reliance on private lenders.
The submission further asks the court to direct broader structural reforms, including statutory recognition for tenant cultivators, strengthened marketing infrastructure, emergency moratoriums on agricultural loan repayments during crop failures, and higher allocations for central procurement schemes like PM-AASHA, PSS, and MIS.
