The State Government has come up with renewed stance on pressure coming from business communities of the State and some other quarters to scrap Bazar Samiti in Jharkhand. Outrightly rejecting the vociferous demand, Minister for Agriculture and Sugarcane Randheer Kumar Singh made it clear on Wednesday that the agency working in marketing the farm produces would be improved instead.
Speaking at a workshop on Contract Farming organised by Jharkhand State Agriculture Marketing Board, the Minister found no merit in the demand. “I was under pressure to abolish the Bazar Samiti when I joined the office. Earlier, I and even the Secretary of my Department were convinced about the irregularities happening and with the complaints coming. But after considering the issues involved we have decided not to abolish it. The demands were being made by some selfish persons,” said the newly appointed Minister in the Raghubar Das Government.
Interestingly, the BJP top leaders had on many occasions expressed their desire to scrap the Bazar Samiti citing corruption involved into it at every level. Even Chief Minister Raghubar Das was at one point of time convinced with the long pending demand before assuming the office.
The Minister, at the same time, stressed on making the institution more vibrant, responsive and transparent and vowed to help it in continuing its good work done in saving farmers from getting exploited in the hands of middlemen. “A similar system is working absolutely fine in many other parts of the country. I am getting hold of the nuances of the Bazar Samiti and willing to work together with Secretary and Managing Director of the Board. We are also in the process of consultation with traders and will try to convince them,” added the Minister.
FJCCI, the largest conglomerate of businessmen in the State, has been demanding to get away with Bazar Samit. The federation has even threatened to go on strike from April 9 if the demand is not met.
Secretary of the Department Nitin Madan Kulkarni also echoed the Minister and said that experiences of Bihar in abolishing Bazar Samiti had not been good. “There have been speculations over future of Bazar Samiti and it was alleged that it is not meeting its purposes. One school of thought is that it should be quashed. It is easy to end something but building it is always difficult. I toured Bihar and came across stark realities of farmers who are not benefited out of it. Now, Bihar has realised that the decision to abolish Bazar Samiti there was taken in a hurry. My thoughts have changed now,” said the Secretary.
He admitted that a lot has to be done to resurrect the functioning of Bazar Samiti but termed it as the only way to deal with the problems of the farmers and safeguard their interests.