In a major relief to farmers, especially the tenants, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Monday gave approval to amend the Punjab Tenancy Act, 1887.
Once the Act is amended, it will provide for a new formula of determining the rental value of the land in line with the market prices, which will be evaluated by the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana.
The chief minister had already taken up the issue with the Union ministry of agriculture emphasising the need for evolving a methodological procedure to determine minimum support price (MSP). He told the Centre that the provision in the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953 to limit the land rent up to one-third of the value of the produce was made to protect the rights of tenants and was no more relevant.
Further, the chief minister had given the nod to amend the Act that had been duly forwarded to the revenue department. Punjab with a mere 1.53 per cent of the total geographical area of the country produces around 20 per cent of wheat, 10 per cent of rice and 10 per cent of cotton production of the country. Farmers of the state have been demanding a review of the procedure to fix the MSP to make it remunerative.
The chief minister said provisions under the existing law were unrealistic and denied the right of the remunerative MSP to farmers. He said the amended law will benefit farmers, especially tenants.
