Samyukt Kisan Morcha rejects rabi MSP, demands revision
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella coalition of around 500 farmers’ organisations, has rejected the Centre’s recently announced minimum support prices (MSP) for the upcoming rabi season, calling the increase an “insult” to cultivators. In a statement issued on Saturday, October 4, 2026, the SKM accused the Narendra Modi government of “speaking Washington language” to India’s farmers and rural youth, and urged village-level protests including the burning of copies of the Government Order.
SKM slams MSP hike as “insult”
The farmers’ body criticised the MSP revision as inconsequential, pointing specifically to wheat. “The government has raised the MSP of wheat by ₹25 a quintal. That is 25 paise a kilo. It will not buy even a third of a litre of diesel. Yet the government calls it a ‘106% profit’,” the SKM said, arguing that if agriculture truly delivered such margins, “no young person would have to leave the village in search of work.”
Cost formula at the heart of the dispute
Central to the SKM’s rejection is its objection to the cost formula used to calculate MSP. The organisation said the government’s cost estimate—A2 (actual paid-out costs) plus FL (imputed value of family labour)—omits significant components borne by farm households. “The government’s ‘cost’ (A2 + FL) leaves out the rent on the family’s own land and the interest on its own capital,” the SKM said.
Arguing for a more comprehensive accounting of production costs, the SKM cited the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendation that MSP should be set at C2+50%, where C2 reflects the full, comprehensive cost of cultivation. “The full cost is C2 [comprehensive cost of production], and the Swaminathan Commission said the MSP must be C2+50%. Counting the full cost, even on the CACP’s [Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices] own data, and the wheat margin is 43%, not 106%. Not one rabi crop gets C2+50%,” the release added.
Accusations of centralisation and alignment with WTO critiques
The SKM further alleged that the MSP announcement process ignored feedback from States, including those governed by the BJP. “Nobody was heard, not even the BJP’s own State governments. This is the BJP’s anti-federal policy: strip the States of their powers and pile them up in Delhi,” the statement said.
It also criticised the Union Finance Ministry’s reported advisory from January 2026 asking States to consider discontinuing their bonus on wheat and paddy. “The CACP says such bonuses distort the market. That is the very charge the United States makes against India’s MSP at the WTO [World Trade Organization]. Our government now speaks Washington’s language against our own farmers,” the SKM said.
Demands: Legal guarantee and immediate MSP revision
The SKM demanded a legally guaranteed MSP at C2+50% based on what it called an honestly calculated full cost of production. The organisation also sought an immediate upward revision of the announced MSPs, specifying the following levels: wheat at no less than ₹3,418 per quintal; barley at ₹3,518; gram at ₹9,205; lentil (masur) at ₹9,947; rapeseed and mustard at ₹8,684; and safflower at ₹10,630.
In addition, the SKM called for respect of States’ MSP recommendations and full freedom for States to pay bonuses over and above the centrally announced support prices.
Call for village-level protests
To register their opposition, the SKM urged farmers and rural youth to burn copies of the Government Order in every village, framing the action as a protest against what it described as a deeply inadequate price support policy.
Significance
The SKM’s statement intensifies long-running disagreements over how MSP is calculated and whether current prices cover the full cost of cultivation. By tying its objections to the Swaminathan Commission’s C2+50% benchmark and alleging centralisation of policy-making at the expense of States, the farmers’ coalition has put fresh pressure on the Centre ahead of the rabi procurement cycle.
