In Sunday’s late-night meeting, Union Minister Piyush Goyal proposed many solutions to the protesting farmers. The minister representing the government proposed a 5 years contract to buy pulses, maize, and cotton at Minimum Support Price (MSP). Farmers were given 48 hours to confer and have paused their protest ‘Delhi Chalo’ march until February 21st. 
The farmers and the government representative including three Union Ministers, Junior Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda, Junior Home Minister Nityanand Raihad, and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, had a meeting on Sunday in Chandigarh.
After the meeting, a farmer’s leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said, “We will discuss(this) in our forums (on Monday and Tuesday), will take expert opinion and take decision.”
Points from the Chandigarh Meeting
Union co-operatives like the National Co-operative Consumer Federation (NCCF) or the National Agricultural Co-Operative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) will sign a five-year contract to buy dal and maize, where these crops will be brought at MSP.
There will be no limit, no purchase qualities and a website will be made, said the government representative. He added that the offer is part of a long-term strategy to increase maize production as a major feedstock. This will improve the groundwater table and save land already under stress from getting barren.
As a part of crop diversification, the government is encouraging the production of maize and dal. Thus, it increased the MSP of maize from Rs 1,760 in 2019 to Rs 2090 per quintal last year.
Current MSP scheme 
Currently, MSP is offered on 23 crops which include ragi, groundnut, soybean, sunflower seeds, barley, rapeseeds, and mustard, and does not include wheat, pulses, paddy, and maize. In June 2023, the MSP of the Kharif crop was increased by the government to ensure remunerative prices for their crop and to encourage crop diversification.
Farmer’s MSP Demand
Along with legal backing for MSP, farmers want the Swaminathan Committee Recommendation to be implemented which suggests the crop price to be set at least 50 percent above the weighted average cost for production. This is known as the C2 +50 formula, which includes the cost of capital and land rent in setting the MSP of a crop. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella farmer body, has said they would not accept anything less than this formula.
Farmer’s Protest Update
The agitation began last week, started at Noida Expressway, and then took the shape of the farmer’s proposed march ‘Delhi Chalo‘ towards the national Capital. The farmers were welcomed by the government with multilayered metal barricades, nail barriers, barbed wires, and concrete blocks at the borders of Delhi.
Now, they are at the Shambhu border crossing between Punjab and Haryana. Near Ambala, Haryana police officials deployed tear gas using drones from the air while farmers used kites to prevent this attack.
The internet service has been banned in other districts of Punjab including Patiala, Sangrum, and Fatehgarh Sahib till February 24th. Earlier, internet service was suspended from February 12th to 16th on command of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
