After meeting with two farmers groups from Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Tuesday he is hopeful that protesting unions would soon complete their internal discussions and resume talks with the Government to resolve the crisis.
He met two more peasants’ bodies from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh that extended support to the legislations.
“Representatives of different farmers’ bodies had come to tell that the laws are good and are in the interest of farmers. They had come to urge the Government not make any amendments to the laws,” Tomar said after meeting the two groups.
“I am hopeful they (protesting farmers’ unions) will soon complete their internal discussions and come forward for talks. We will be able to find a solution successfully,” the minister said.
UP-based Kisan Sangarsh Samithi (KSS) and Delhi-based Indian Kisan Union (IKU) are among those farmer groups that have extended support to the laws in the last three weeks. The previous groups were from Haryana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
“The three laws enacted by the Centre are good and are in the interest of the farming community,” KSS President Ajay Pal Pradhan said after the meeting.
KSS further demanded that the government should notify only that much land which is required for the development. In the Secunderabad industrial area, industries have developed 45 per cent of the land acquired and the rest is not used yet.
Earlier, interacting with members of international media from the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia, Tomar said that the government is still willing to continue talks with protesting unions on all contentious issues.
The Minister said the agriculture sector is the backbone of the Indian economy and the Narendra Modi government is focusing on doubling farmer’s income by 2022. He was interacting with members of international media from the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia.