NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha moved the ‘Minimum Support Price Guarantee Bill, 2022’ and ‘Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2022’ in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
Addressing the media, Chadha said that he has introduced a Bill on MSP in the Rajya Sabha proposing to entitle every farmer the right to guaranteed Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops, agricultural products or related matters.
Lashing out at BJP-led Centre government for backstabbing farmers on the MSP issue, Chadha said that under the leadership of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Sardar Bhagwant Mann, he is committed to safeguard the interests of farmers and his fight will continue against the draconian policies of the government.
On behalf of crores of Indian farmers, I introduced a private member's bill to entitle every farmer the legal right to guaranteed Minumum Support Price in Rajya Sabha today. The Bill further seeks MSP calculation as per Swaminathan Committee. pic.twitter.com/xJzSCLgxJT
— Raghav Chadha (@raghav_chadha) August 5, 2022
He said, “it has exposed the NDA government’s anti-farmer and anti-Punjab stance as it has backtracked on its promise to farmers to give legal guarantees on the MSP. Therefore, to force the Union government for a debate on the issue, I have introduced a private member’s bill in the Rajya Sabha today.”
Pointing out that the Union government should include experts and farmers from Punjab in the MSP committee, Shri Chadha said that as recommended by previous government committees, experts and farmers’ unions, the calculations and process to determine MSP need to be revised and reformed.
On another crucial issue, to prevent defection and ‘Resort Politics’, Shri Raghav Chadha has introduced a Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2022 in the Rajya Sabha.
The bill proposes that if any MP or MLA changes their party after winning the election, then he would be banned from contesting elections for 6 years. Likewise, to prevent party hopping, MLAs and MPs will have to appear in front of the speaker within 7 days of withdrawing support to a government. If any MLA or MP is unable to do so, they should be disqualified, states the Amendment bill.
“The Bill also seeks to increase the existing threshold for merger of members of a legislature party to another party, from 2/3rd to 3/4th of the members , in order to avoid disqualification. This provision is necessary due to growing instances of anti-defection in smaller states where the strength of the house ranges from 30 to 70,” Chadha said in a statement.
Earlier, in Parliament, Chadha raised questions over the Union government’s inaction in not launching the ‘Gurdwara Circuit Train’ for Sikh pilgrims.
Chadha said that despite being announced almost a year back, no time frame has been drawn up to implement it till now. It is a deliberate attempt to hurt the sentiments of the Sikh community.