The Centre is forming a panel on Minimum Support Price (MSP). The Election Commission has said it can be done after the polls are over, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said in the Rajya Sabha. “The whole country knows that PM Modi had announced the formation of a panel to make crop diversification, natural farming and MSP effective and transparent. The government is committed to the announcement made by him. The matter is under consideration of the ministry,” Tomar said.

The government is considering introducing a bill to give a legal guarantee to MSP. An increase of 50 per cent, which is higher than the cost of production, was one of the recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee that was rejected by the inter-ministry panel, he said. However, Prime Minister Modi accepted that proposal in 2018-19 and started fixing higher MSP in the interest of farmers, he added.