NEW DELHI, AUGUST 19: The Supreme Court issued notice to the Central Government on Tuesday regarding a Public Interest Litigation seeking a legally enforceable Minimum Support Price for all notified agricultural crops calculated at actual cultivation cost plus a 50 percent profit margin.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant tagged the petition, filed by former Lok Sabha MP V Sobhanadreeswara Rao, with similar pending matters concerning agricultural cost calculations. The plea calls for implementing the core pricing recommendations of the 2006 MS Swaminathan Commission Report to guarantee economic viability and fair profit margins for farmers.
The petitioner urged the top court to direct the creation of a time-bound statutory framework ensuring no agricultural produce is purchased below the fixed support price. The petition also requests a comprehensive central debt relief mechanism—including a one-time loan waiver for small and marginal farmers modeled on the Kerala Farmers’ Debt Relief Commission Act—to shield agricultural households from severe debt traps.
Additional reliefs sought in the PIL include legal protections and credit access for tenant farmers under the Model Agricultural Land Leasing Act, expanded funding for price support schemes such as PM-AASHA, accelerated completion of irrigation projects, and mandatory moratoriums on loan recoveries during natural disasters.
