Farmers Movement Archive

Try out farm laws for 2 yrs, Rajnath appeals to farmers

SHIMLA: Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday urged farmers to “try” the new farm laws for two years and engage in a dialogue with the Centre for amendments in the Acts if they do not turn out to be beneficial. Addressing a function virtually from Delhi to mark the third anniversary of the Jai Ram Thakur government in Himachal Pradesh, the Union minister said the three agri-marketing laws would only help supplement farmers’ income. Accusing Congress of trying to mislead farmers, the minister said once agriculturists understood the merit of the new laws, they would steer clear of those trying to misguide them. He added that the Centre government is willing to clear the doubts of protesting farmers. Rajnath said the new laws have given farmers the freedom to sell their produce anywhere in the country and assured that the mandi system would continue. He said uncertainty is being deliberately created on the future of minimum support price (MSP) while the fact is that MSP would continue and there were no plans to end it. He said the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi implemented the MSP formula recommended in the Swaminathan report. He also dismissed any possibility of acquisition of farmers’ land saying that the new laws have put strict provisions in place to protect far mers’ interests. Under contract farming, he said, the contract with farmers will only be for their crop and not for their land. The Centre government, he said, is going to constitute 10,000 farmer producer organisations in the country to ensure that farmers and horticulturists are able to sell their produce in the market on their own with some value addition.

The Times of India

2020-12-28

India