Affiliates of the farmers’ collective Samyukta Kisan Morcha will on Wednesday join demonstrations by trade unions at district headquarters across the country against the new labour codes.
The Morcha will also submit copies of a memorandum to the President to push for laws to guarantee remunerative minimum support prices for crops.
In its memorandum, the Morcha will stress 10 demands, including the passage of MSP laws by Parliament and the Assemblies, and increasing the tax share of states.
The SKM wrote: “During the last 11 years, the Hon. Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not implement MSP@C2+50% with guaranteed procurement for all crops as promised in the BJP manifesto in the 2014 general election. The MSP declared (as per A2+FL+50%) for the year 2025-26 for paddy has been ₹2,369 per quintal, while farmers are being forced to sell at distress rate at ₹1,800/q in Uttar Pradesh and as low as ₹1,400/q in Bihar….
“As per available authentic reports, in the year 2024-25, paddy has been procured approximately 5.80 lakh metric tonnes from over 2 lakh farmers (85% procurement) at the rate of ₹2,820 per quintal in Kerala, 149.25 lakh metric tonnes from over 27 lakh registered farmers (74.9% procurement) at the rate of ₹3,100 per quintal in Chhattisgarh and 92.63 LMT (100% procurement) at the rate of ₹3,169 per quintal in Odisha.
“On 1st November 2025, the Kerala government enhanced the MSP of paddy at ₹3,000 per quintal from the season 2025-26. Thus, three state governments have succeeded to ensure MSP@C2+50% rate (₹3,012/quintal).”
The group added: “Increase state share in the divisive pool (including cess and surcharge) from the current 31% to 60%. Amend the GST Act to reinstate the taxation power of states. Realise MSP and minimum wage by protecting the financial autonomy of the states, augmenting public investment for modernisation and co-operativisation of agriculture, build agro-industries and share the surplus out of processing, value addition and marketing on all crops with the farmers and agricultural workers thus end the agrarian crisis, peasant suicides and distress migration.”
SKM leaders insisted that they are not asking for budget allocations for MSPs but for farmers to get a share of processing surplus — that is, the difference between the retail price of the produce and the price the farmer currently gets for it.
A source in the CPM-backed All India Kisan Sabha, an SKM constituent, told The Telegraph: “We will go for more decentralised protests at the state level, and will be meeting trade unions after tomorrow’s protest to plan for future action. The SKM will also participate in a meeting of electricity workers’ unions in Delhi on December 14.”