In a fresh attempt to explain the Government’s offers to farmers and try to allay their fears, the Government on Thursday invited them for talks with an open mind. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar also urged farmers to go through the proposal of amendments that the Government is planning to incorporate in the farm laws.
Replying to whether the Centre would consider a new bill on minimum support price (MSP), Tomar said it has got nothing to do with these laws.
“It was not proper to announce the next stage of agitation when talks were continuing. We gave our proposals to farmers after meeting them and therefore we urge them to consider those. If they want to discuss those proposals also, we are ready for that too. Any law cannot be entirely defective. I urge unions to set a date for discussion,” said Tomar.
He was addressing a Press conference, along with his Cabinet colleague Piyush Goyal. Tomar assured farmers that the new laws will not affect the APMC Act or MSP mechanism.
The Minister said the Government kept waiting for suggestions from farmers’ leaders to address their concerns. “We sent a proposal to farmers. They wanted those laws to be repealed. We are of the stand that govt is ready for open-minded discussions on provisions they have an objection against. Laws don’t affect APMCs or MSP. We tried to explain this to farmers,” he said.
“The Government wanted to liberate the farmers of the shackles of mandi so that they could sell their produce anywhere, to anyone, at his own price, outside the purview of mandi,” stated Tomar.
“It is being projected that the land of farmers will be occupied by industrialists. Contract farming has been going on for a long time in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka but there has never been such experience,” Tomar said.
“Still, we have already made provision in the Act that agreement under these laws will only be between processors and farmers’ produce. There is no provision for any lease or agreement over farmers’ land,” the Agriculture Minister added.
Tomar also said the entire country has witnessed that Swaminathan Commission report came in 2006, the recommendation about MSP at 1.5 times cost of production remained pending till Modi government implemented it.
“Law provides that if farmer and processor enter into an agreement and the type of crops is such that some infrastructure has to be set up on the farmer’s land, then the processor will dismantle his infrastructure from thereafter the agreement concludes,” the Agriculture Minister said.
“If the processor doesn’t do it, then the owner of that infrastructure will be the farmer himself. This has been provided in the law,” Tomar added.
Highlighting the steps taken by the Modi Government to improve farmers’ financial health, the Minister said an allocation of Rs 75,000 crore has been made for just PM Kisan initiative under which farmers get Rs 6,000 per year of direct income support. “Besides, Rs one Lakh crore Agri Infrastructure has been set up for the development of farm gate infrastructure. Neem coated urea scheme was introduced by Modi Govt. for reduced use of chemicals and improved soil health,” he said.
At the same media briefing, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said there were some concerns that farmers will be forced to sell their produce in the private market. “This is completely erroneous, there is absolutely no provision in the law which brings an element of compulsion on any farmer,” Goyal added.