Farmers Movement Archive

Spent Rs 8cr on ads to bust farm bill myths: Govt to Rajya Sabha

NEW DELHI: Amid protests against farm laws, the Centre has spent nearly Rs 8 crore on advertisements and production of promotional films for clarifying on contentious issues on the legislations ever since these were enacted in September last year. The government during the period also reached out to Indian diaspora on its “considered position and useful information on the farm laws” through diplomatic missions. These efforts, however, did not cost anything as it was done as part of regular diplomatic works. The agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar shared this information through his written answers to different Parliament questions on farm laws in Rajya Sabha on Friday. He also claimed to have consulted states before promulgation of Ordinances. Responding to a question on expenditure incurred on government’s ‘Myth-busting on Farm Laws’ publicity campaign, Tomar said the Bureau of Outreach and Communication (BOC) of ministry of information and broadcasting had committed over Rs 7.25 crore for release of advertisement on issues related to farm laws' publicity campaign in the country between September 2020 and January 2021 on behalf of his ministry. The money was spent on print advertisements through BOC in Hindi, English and regional language newspapers for “clarifications related to farm laws including on myth and realities etc. for creating awareness among the farmers and other stakeholders”. In addition, the agriculture ministry had incurred an amount of around Rs 68 lakh on production of three promotional and two educational films on farm laws for its wider publicity through electronic media, social media and webinars, among the farmers and other stakeholders. Besides, miscellaneous expenditure of over Rs 1.50 lakh was incurred on development of creatives for print advertisement. Responding to other question “whether pre-legislative consultation policy was followed by government prior to introducing the farm laws in Parliament”, the minister claimed to have followed the due procedure and said, “State governments were also consulted through video conferencing on May 21, 2020, which was attended by the officials of states/ UTs, to obtain feedback on new legal framework facilitating barrier free inter-state and intra-state trade in agriculture produce to provide choice to farmers.” Seeking to justify the Ordinance route, the minister said there was utmost need to allow free direct marketing outside 'mandis' to facilitate the farmers in selling their produce near farm gate at remunerative prices due to disruption of markets and supply chains during Covid-19 lockdown. He said, “As Covid-19 situation may have a prolonged effect globally on demand side, hence the urgency for promulgation of an Ordinances was necessitated to provide a new facilitative framework to promote barrier free inter-state and intra-state trade to increase market accessibility for farmers to realize their income.” In view of Covid-19 situation, the government had also proactively undertaken many webinars interactions with farmers and other stakeholders on new farm laws during the period from June 5, 2020 to September 17, 2020, said Tomar.

The Times of India

2021-02-13

India