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Congress misleading farmers on new farm laws: Tomar
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SME Times News Bureau | 17 Oct, 2020
Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has
accused the Congress of misleading the farmers and playing politics in
their name. He says that those who are opposing the new agricultural
laws are pursuing their vested interests in the name of farmers.
Talking
to IANS, the Agriculture Minister said that the two important bills
related to agriculture are not being opposed by farmers, but the
Congress is giving it political colour in pursuit of vested interests.
To
a question on the cause of dispute of the law brought in to reform the
agriculture sector, the Union Minister said: "The cause of the dispute
is political and selfishness. Both Bills are beneficial for the farmers.
Their standard of living is going to improve. Those who do not like
this are opposing the bills and are trying to give them a political
colour.
Three important legislations related to agriculture - the
Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill,
2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price
Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, and the Essential Commodities
(Amendment) Bill, 2020 were passed in the Monsoon Session of Parliament.
After the President's assent, all three have now become laws, but this
hasn't prevented farmers from opposing them.
Tomar, a minister in
the Modi government that always talks about the interests of the
village, the poor and the farmers, says that the new laws will bring
prosperity to the lives of farmers.
Asked why in such a
situation, have the farmers hit the streets to protest against the law?
On this, Tomar outrightly rejected the involvement of farmers in the
protests, saying that the protest is Congress-sponsored and only
Congress members are involved in it. "The farmers are not on the streets
anywhere. Congress is on the streets."
Tomar has also been given
additional charge of the Food Processing portfolio after Harsimrat Kaur
Badal, from the BJP's old ally Shiromani Akali Dal, resigned from the
post in protest against the farm bills. In addition, he is already
in-charge of the Ministry of Rural Development and the Ministry of
Panchayati Raj.
Punjab and Haryana are witnessing the most
intense protests against new agricultural laws. Asked the reason for
this, Tomar said: "Wherever there is more selfishness when it comes to
the mandis, there will be more opposition."
So do the protests
have more to do with the mandis than farmers? To this, Tomar clarified
that neither the farmers nor the traders will be harmed by the new laws.
He said that this is not an opposition to the market, but a protest
that has brought the selfishness associated with the market out in the
open. He said that Congress has a vested interest in it, so it is
leading these protests.
Under the new law, there is no charge for
the purchase of agricultural products in trade areas outside the mandis
run by the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC). Therefore,
the law is raising fears about the existence of mandis operated by the
APMC.
Noting that in Punjab, on the purchase of wheat and paddy,
there is a mandi tax, RDF fee and agents' commission, the Agriculture
Minister argues that in case the processors buy directly from the
farmers in the trade area, there will be no middlemen and no fee and the
farmers will ultimately benefit.
Farmers in Punjab and Haryana
are also apprehensive about purchase of their crops at the minimum
support price (MSP). Responding to this, Tomar said that there should
not be any dilemma in the minds of farmers about MSP. "The MSP will
continue. We have declared the MSP of both Kharif and Rabi season crops
and procurement process has started in the Kharif season."
The
government announces the MSP for 22 crops of Kharif and Rabi every year.
Leaders of opposition parties and farmer organisations are questioning
the absence of the MSP in the Bills. To this, the Union Agriculture
Minister said that these Bills have nothing to do with the MSP.
On
the demand for mandatory MSP, Tomar questioned the Congress as to why a
law was not enacted during the last 50 years to make the MSP mandatory.
The
lowest support price for wheat and paddy in the country was first
decided in 1966-67. Tomar said that arrangements have been made for MSP
in the country and the achievement of the Narendra Modi-led government
is that by implementing the recommendations of the Swaminathan
Commission, farmers get minimum support price every year with 50 per
cent profit over cost of production. He said that when compared to
previous governments, the procurement of crops from farmers on MSP has
more than doubled during the tenure of the Modi government.
An
RSS-affiliated farmers' organisation has alleged that proposals and
suggestions related to farmers were ignored in the Bills. On this, Tomar
said: "Everyone has the right to suggest, but whatever deserves to be
included in the law is included."
Referring to the benefits to
farmers, the Union Minister said that the law stipulates that farmers
can now sell their produce anywhere in the country, on which there will
be no tax and even the payment will be made within three days.
Responding
to a question on the possibility of corporate interference from the law
related to contract farming, the Union Agriculture Minister said that
this law guarantees the value of the crop at the time of sowing and this
was never done before. He said that the new farm law only provides for
contracting the crop and there will be no contract on land.
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