Farmers Movement Archive

‘Centre infringing on states’ rights’

Chandigarh: Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Monday accused the BJP government at the Centre of "encroaching upon the rights of the states" in its bid to dominate them. Reiterating his support to farmers and the ‘arhtiyas’ (commission agents), he also criticised the central government for its one-sided decision to forcibly impose the new farm laws and the direct benefit transfer (DBT) on the state’s farming community. "States never faced such problems earlier," he said, slamming the Centre of trying to destroy the existing systems that had worked well for more than 100 years, in the name of imposing the so-called reforms without taking the stakeholders into confidence. Punjab’s farmers and ‘arhtiyas’ have age-old cordial ties, which the Centre is hell-bent on damaging, he said, terming the Government of India’s tough posturing and ill-conceived decisions as being against the basic spirit of federalism. He also said during his earlier tenure he enjoyed the full confidence and support of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and subsequently of Manmohan Singh, in all major policy decisions related to Punjab. Virtually launching the two-day Kisan Mela organized by the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, Amarinder expressed solidarity with the farmers against the “farm laws imposed by the Centre, in violation of the 7th Schedule of the Constitution" which states that agriculture is a state subject. The Centre has deliberately impinged upon the state’s power, thus jeopardizing the basic structure of democracy, he said. "Had the Centre been sincere about finding a workable solution to this problem, it would have either consulted the Punjab government or the state’s farmers, as Punjab alone contributes over 40% of foodgrains to the national pool," he asserted. Pointing out that 144 farmers have died so far during their agitation, he said his government was giving Rs 5 lakh and a job to a kin of the deceased farmer, while the Centre continued to be insensitive to their pain. Amarinder urged the farmers to go for drip irrigation in a big way to save the state from becoming a desert in the near future. The fast depleting water table, resulting from the melting glaciers, is a major challenge for the state and the only solution is to get out of the paddy-wheat cycle to save this precious resource, he said. He further emphasised that efforts should be made to adapt to horticultural crops which have a global market with chances of enormous profitability.

The Times of India

2021-04-06

Chandigarh