Farmers Movement Archive

Will work for villages ignored by previous govts, says Modi

In a sharp rebuke to political parties that are resisting the three farm laws enacted by his government last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that those who had ruled the country through a nexus of middlemen in the past were opposing the reforms because they were worried that the legislation would hurt their interests.Hitting out at the Congress, which has been spearheading the protests against the farm laws, Modi said it was a party of people who for six decades had ignored the country’s villages. He said those who had benefitted from a system that was dominated by brokers and middlemen were trying to obstruct development of the countryside.“It is said that India’s aatma (soul) rests in its villages. But it is also correct that villages were left ignored. The people who were in power for a long time, they talked big, but left villages and poor uncared for amid difficulties. I will not do this. I will work for you. For the poor, oppressed and deprived. Because we don’t want them to be dependent on anyone,” Modi said.To promote efficient farm markets, the government last month enacted three laws, allowing farmers to bypass state-controlled market yards run by agricultural produce market committees (APMCs) and enter into five-year farming contracts with agribusinesses. The government also freed up several commonly consumed food items from strict stocking limits that discouraged private investment in cold storages.Political parties and farmers’ groups are protesting against the reforms, including the move to end the monopoly of APMCs, because they fear deregulation will leave them vulnerable to powerful agribusinesses and in an even weaker negotiating position than before. They also fear the reforms may weaken the minimum support price mechanismThe prime minister said the government had raised the Minimum Support Price (MSP) to one and a half times its previous level. These people could not do it, he said hitting at political opponents.The PM spoke at an event where property ownership cards were distributed to beneficiaries of the Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas (SVAMITVA) scheme, which he said was a big step towards the country becoming “aatmanirbhar” (self-reliant). The cards will pave the way for villagers to use property as a financial asset for taking loans and other financial benefits, and end disputes among villagers over land ownership, he said. Modi claimed that for six decades, residents of villages did not have bank accounts, electricity, toilets, piped water or cooking gas connections. Many were homeless. Now, 20 million people have received concrete houses.“To keep villages deprived has been the basis of politics of some. We have started the campaign to free the poor of deprivation. Some people feel that if the villages, poor, farmers, tribals develop, who will come to bow before them?. Their shop will be shut,” Modi said.He alleged that these were the people who wanted problems in the villages to continue; obstructing ecojnomic development had become their habit.“These people now have a problem with the historic agricultural reforms. They are worried and hassled. Not because of farmers, their worries are centered on their interests. Generation after generation, with a huge system of dalals (middlemen) and bribe-seekers, they had created their own ‘maya jaal’(web of illusions). People of the country have begun dismantling their maya jaal,” said the prime minister.“They have a problem with every good thing that is happening. These people want to stall the development of the country. They don’t want our villagers, our poor, our workers, our farmers to become self-reliant.”Those who ruled on the strength of brokers and middlemen can spread as much disinformation as they want, but the country will not stop, Modi said, lashing out at opponents. He said those who had benefitted from government schemes had gained in confidence.

Hindustan Times

12-10-2020

India