On Monday, the Supreme Court asked the Center and other parties to respond to a request that states' proposals for the precise cost of cultivation be given consideration when determining the minimum support price (MSP).
"Indian farmers are facing a terrible financial crisis because they are unable to sell their produce even at their actual cost of production." A bench consisting of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi agreed to hear the plea and sent notices to the Center, Directorate General of Foreign Trade, and the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices asking for their response. Over 17,000 farmers have committed suicide in Maharashtra alone in the past five years as a result of this, according to the appeal.

Bhushan claimed throughout the debates that the MSP was frequently set lower than the true cost of farming.The bench noted that the petition contained numerous mathematical calculations and that the cost of land and capital, which can differ from state to state, could provide challenges.
According to Bhushan, the administration itself performed the computations.
"You are asking us to re-write the economic policy," the bench said.
It stated that since some farmers own large tracts of land, it is likely impossible to have a single policy for everyone.
Nonetheless, the bench gave notice of the plea and consented to hear it.
It stated that the cost of production of various agricultural products is determined state by state by the government and its organisations."The MS Swaminathan Commission Report in 2006 had recommended that the farmers should be paid their cost + 50 percent profit to make farming viable in the country," the petition stated, noting that the government had never questioned this suggestion.
It stated that the weighted average cost of production was significantly higher than the MSP, which was set by the government on an annual and crop-by-crop basis.The government is essentially the monopoly buyer for some crops, particularly wheat and rice, since it distributes these agricultural products to the public under the Food Security Act at heavily subsidised prices, essentially at no cost," it stated.Additionally, it stated that the Food Security Act's provision of free wheat and rice to about two-thirds of the population has artificially reduced demand for other rival food crops, especially millets, which people are not buying due to the availability of essentially free rations of wheat and rice.The recently signed trade agreement between the US and India, which permits the importation of the majority of agricultural items from the US into India essentially duty-free, is adding to this already severe misery, the appeal stated.
In order to guarantee full procurement of registered crops under the MSP determined by the precise cost of production, it has asked the authorities for guidance.A transparent and uniform procurement mechanism that guarantees the procurement of all crops notified under the MSP regime, without limiting effective procurement to specific crops or regions, has also been requested in the plea, along with instructions to establish efficient, accessible, and functional procurement centers at every tehsil, block, village, and district nationwide.
In light of the purported ongoing failure of the MSP framework to guarantee recovery of cultivation costs and the ensuing agrarian hardship, the petitioners have also asked the court to order the states and Union territories to waive all outstanding agricultural debts of farmers.