Team News Riveting
Asserting that the farm laws were not brought overnight, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the consultation for these agricultural reform laws had been going for the last 20-22 years.
Addressing Kisan Sammelan held across Madhya Pradesh through video conferencing today, Modi said armers of the country, farmers’ organizations, agricultural experts, agricultural economists, agricultural scientists, progressive farmers of the country had also been continuously demanding improvement in the agriculture sector. The Prime Minister continued that these reforms were not taken in real earnest even if they figured in the party manifestos.
He said the agricultural reforms that have taken place now were not different from what were in discussion earlier. The Prime Minister added that the previous Governments did not implement the Swaminathan Committee report for over 8 years. Even the peasants’ agitation did not shake the consciousness of these people.
He said these people ensured that their government does not have to spend much on the farmer. He criticized the opposition that farmers are used by them for politics whereas his government is dedicated to farmers and considers farmers as Annadata. Modi said the recommendations of the report of the Swaminathan Committee was implemented by this Government, giving MSP of one and a half times the cost to the farmers.
On debt waiver, the Prime Minister said it does not reach the small farmer who did not go to the bank, who did not take the loan. He said in the PM-Kisan scheme every year farmers will get about 75 thousand crore rupees, directly into farmers’ bank accounts. No leakage, no commission to anyone. He also described how the availability of urea improved due to neem coating and crackdown on corruption.
The Prime Minister criticized that if the previous governments were concerned about farmers, then around 100 large irrigation projects in the country would not hang for decades. Now our government is spending thousands of crores of rupees to complete these irrigation projects in mission mode”,” he said, adding that the Government was working to ensure water to every farm.
The Prime Minister clarified that the new law has given freedom to farmers to sell in the mandi or outside. The farmer can sell his produce where he would get more benefit. Not a single mandi was closed after the new law. He added that the government is spending more than Rs 500 crore on modernizing APMCs.
On contract farming, the Prime Minister clarified it has been in operation in our country for years. He said in contract farming, only crops or produce are transacted but the land remains with the farmer, the agreement has nothing to do with the land. Even if a natural disaster strikes, the farmer gets full money. The new law has ensured a share of windfall profits to the farmer.
