Key Points :
- PM Modi defended agricultural reforms saying the government is committed to help farmers get the right price through Minimum Support Price
- He made the announcement on a video-conference call and tweeted a message to the farmers appealing to them by saying the reforms are protection for farmers
- The Lok Sabha passed the agricultural reforms on Thursday, the introduction which had sparked farmers’ protests in Haryana and Punjab
PM Modi defended the farm bills introduced by the Centre on Friday saying,“Misinformation is being spread that farmers won’t get right prices. They are forgetting how aware the country’s farmers are.” The Prime Minister addressed the issue in a video-conference call dedicated to the launch of a railway bridge on river Kosi in Bihar.
The government is “committed to helping farmers get right prices through Minimum Support Price,” the Prime Minister said.
The Lok Sabha passed the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 by a majority voice vote, the three farming ordinances that have stirred farmers’ protests across Punjab and Haryana. The farming communities believe this bill will destroy their livelihoods and end the ‘mandi’ system.
On the contrary, the Prime Minister called the government’s farm legislation “historic” and protection for farmers. He appealed to the farmers saying, “The reforms will give new freedom to farmers. These reforms will bring more options and opportunities for farmers to sell their produce.”
This move comes a day after BJP’s ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal quit the Union cabinet against the agricultural ordinances. In her resignation letter to the Prime Minister, Kaur expressed her disappointment over the failure of the Centre to get farmers on board with the bill. SAD and other opposition parties have termed the bill “anti-farmer”.
PM Modi rubbished these claims by saying, “Middlemen stand between farmers and their customers; these middlemen take a big chunk of farmers’ income. These reforms have come as a protective shield for farmers.”
He took to twitter to request farmers to not pay heed to the critics.
मैं देश के किसानों को स्पष्ट संदेश देना चाहता हूं। आप किसी भी भ्रम में मत पड़िए।
जो लोग किसानों की रक्षा का ढिंढोरा पीट रहे हैं, दरअसल वे किसानों को अनेक बंधनों में जकड़कर रखना चाहते हैं।
वे बिचौलियों का साथ दे रहे हैं, वे किसानों की कमाई लूटने वालों का साथ दे रहे हैं। pic.twitter.com/dZlnxV591F
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 18, 2020
Farmers in Punjab and Haryana staged a three-day protest over the announcement of these reforms and have called for Punjab bandh on September 25.
“Ultimately these so-called reforms are going to lead to replication of old structures outside mandis. Creating two market spaces with two completely different sets of rules is a recipe for disaster,” said Kavitha Kuruganti of the Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture expressing concern that the reforms would replace public policies with private ones, as reported by Hindustan Times.
