The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of farmers on Monday said that it will hold nationwide protests on March 21 as the Centre has not fulfilled promises, including setting up a panel on Minimum Support Price.

On February 4, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday said that the government will form a panel on the Minimum Support Price, or MSP, after Assembly elections.

The Minimum Support Price is the rate at which the government buys farm produce and is based on a calculation of at least one and a half times the cost of production incurred by farmers. Market rates for many crops are usually well below the Minimum Support Price.

Farmers have been demanding that minimum support price guarantee be extended to all produce, not just rice and wheat.

“There has been no progress in fulfilling the promises made by the Centre to farmers on the issue of forming a panel on MSP to make legislation on it, withdrawal of cases against farmers and expulsion of Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni from the Cabinet,” said Samkyukta Kisan Morcha member Abhimanyu Tomar, according to PTI.

Ashish Mishra had allegedly run over eight people, including four farmers and a journalist, with a car on October 3 during a protest in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district against the now-repealed three farm laws.

He was granted bail by the Allahabad High Court on February 10. Families of the deceased farmers had challenged the bail order in the Supreme Court last month.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha had been a prominent voice during the agitation against the Centre’s three farm laws that took place between November 2020 and December 2021. The farmers had protested as they were concerned that the new laws would open up the country’s agriculture markets to private companies.

On January 31, the farmers’ body had observed the ‘Day of Betrayal’ to shed light on the non-fulfilment of the Centre’s assurances to the farmers.