In the wake of continuing protest over the passage of the farm Bills passed by Parliament on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asserted that the Bills were the need of 21st century India and reassured farmers that the Government “Mandis”, the Government purchase of their produce, and the Minimum Support Price (MSP) mechanism will continue.
Opposition parties and some RSS-affiliated organisations have maintained that the Bills were tilted towards corporates vis-à-vis the small and marginal farmers, constituting over 85 per cent of the farmers in the country.
The PM, however, said that changes will help small farmers organise and get better price for their produce.
Attacking those opposing the Bills, the Prime Minister said a “clique” of people exploited farmers for long as they remained in shackles of rules regulating the sale of their produce and stated that this needed to change, which his Government has done.
“After these historical changes in the agricultural sector, some people are losing their control of it. So now these people are trying to mislead farmers on MSP. They are the same people who sat for years on the recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee on MSP,” Modi said striking at the Congress without naming it.
Describing the legislations as “very historic”, the Prime Minister said if somebody says that Government-regulated agriculture markets will be finished after these reforms, then he is “blatantly lying”.
Noting that his Government had brought the farm Ordinances, which these legislations will replace, in June, he said farmers are already getting a better price by 15 to 20 per cent for their produce in several States.
Modi made the comments at a virtual ceremony to lay foundation stones of nine highway projects in Bihar and to inaugurate optical fibre internet services through which all 45,945 villages in the State will be connected.
The Prime Minister said he wanted to make it clear that the Bills are not against agriculture ‘mandis’ (agricultural markets) and they will continue like they always have.
No Government has done as much to boost MSP and Government procurement of farmers’ produce than his dispensation, the Prime Minister said.
During the coronavirus pandemic, a record purchase of wheat was made from farmers during the rabi season, he said, adding that farmers were paid Rs 1.13 lakh crore at MSP for wheat, paddy, pulses and oilseeds.
“If I talk about pulses and oilseeds, then Government procurement of pulses and oilseeds has been increased almost 24 times more than before,” he said.
Noting that a majority of farmers have small landholdings, he said the changes will help them organise and get a better price of their produce.
On the occasion, Modi laid the foundation stone of nine highway projects and launched optical fiber network in Bihar through video conferencing on Monday. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also attended the ceremony.
These nine highway projects involve a road length of about 350 kilometres at a cost of Rs 14,258 crores. The Prime Minister also inaugurated the optical fibre internet services under which all the 45,945 villages of Bihar will be connected through optical fibre internet service.
The roads will enhance better connectivity, convenience and economic growth in and around the State and movement of people and goods will also improve substantially, especially with the neighbouring States of Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.
The optical fibre internet services will make the internet available to remote villages in Bihar. Digital services like e-education, e-agriculture, telemedicine, tele-law and other social security schemes will be easily available to all citizens of Bihar through the implementation of this project, according to a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office.
