Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the Kisan Sammelan in Madhya Pradesh via video conferencing today
New Delhi: For the first time in the last 22 days, since the farmers went on a protest demanding revocation of new farm laws, Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly addressed the issue and said consultation for these agricultural reform laws had been going for the last 20-22 years and these laws were not brought overnight.
Modi spoke at a Kisan Sammelan held across Madhya Pradesh through video conferencing today.
Also read PM’s speech: हमारे देश में किसानों के साथ धोखाधड़ी का एक बहुत ही बड़ा उदाहरण है कांग्रेस सरकारों के द्वारा की गई कर्जमाफी
Lashing out at the Opposition parties, he said these reforms were not taken in real earnest even if they figured in the party manifestos. He said the agricultural reforms that had taken place now were not different from what was in discussion earlier and accused the Opposition parties for using the farmers for politics and stressed that the new law had 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 said, adding that the government was spending more than Rs 500 crore on modernising Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs).
On debt waiver, the Prime Minister said it did 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 said. He went on to illustrate how the availability of urea improved due to neem coating and crack down on corruption.
On the protest over the provisions on contract farming in the new act, Modi pointed out that contract farming had been in operation in the 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,” he said.
He stressed that there was no reason for mistrust in the recent agricultural reforms done by the Government and “there is no place for lies”. He asked the people to ponder, why would the Swaminathan Committee report be implemented, if the Government intended to remove the Minimum Support Price.
The Prime Minister claimed 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 while claiming that these people ensured that their government did not have to spend much on the farmer. Continuing his attack on the previous governments, he said if they 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. The Government is working to ensure water to every farm. The government is equally promoting beekeeping, animal husbandry and fisheries along with grain-producing farmers,” he said. He further recalled the time when the country faced a pulse crisis. “Pulses used to be sourced from abroad amid outcry in the country,” he pointed out and said his government changed the policy in 2014 and bought 112 lakh metric tonnes of pulses at MSP from farmers compared to procurement of just 1.5 lakh metric tonnes during the period of 5 years before 2014. “Today, pulse farmers are also getting more money, pulses prices have also come down and have directly benefited the poor,” he said.
Pointing out that MSP is announced before sowing to put the farmer at ease, Modi claimed that even during the fight against the Corona pandemic, the procurement on MSP was done as usual. He assured the farmers that MSP would continue to be given like before. He stressed that the government had not only increased the MSP, but has also procured a lot more on MSP. He went on to assert that 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.
The Prime Minister also urged the business world to contribute in developing modern storage facilities, cold storage and setting up new food processing ventures. He said this will serve the farmers and in the true sense, serve the country. He stressed that Indian farmers should have access to the modern facilities available to the farmers in the developed countries, it cannot be delayed any longer. He added in a rapidly changing global scenario, the situation in India cannot be accepted as the farmer becomes helpless due to lack of facilities and modern methods, it is already too late.
The Prime Minister further promised to address the concerns of farmers. He said that the Government was ready to talk on every issue. He said he would again talk about this subject in detail on December 25, on the birth anniversary of former PM, Atal Behari Vajpayee. “On that day, another installment of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi will be simultaneously transferred to the bank accounts of crores of farmers,” he said.
Bharatiya Kisan Union says PM is misleading farmers
The protesting farmers however, claimed that the farmers were disappointed with Modi’s speech today. “Modi ji failed to explain how the farmers will benefit by these farm reforms…These legal provisions protect the corporates and not the farmers,” farmer leader Rakesh Tikait of Bharatiya Kisan Union said. According to him Modi was not interested in protecting the farmers but was in fact promoting agri business and eyeing farm land for private corporate houses. He claimed Modi’s government never had any discussion with the farmers’ representatives before enacting the laws, and said it was far from truth that the Swaminathan Committee report was implemented by this government.
“Swaminathan Committee had suggested a formula which was C2 + 50% , but this government replaced it with A2+FL, which has deprived the farmers of their legitimate right,” Tikait claimed, and said there is no guarantee in the law that the farmers will get the declared price. Offering a comparative chart (see below) on MSP offered during the United Progressive Front Government and the present National Democratic Alliance government, the Bharatiya Kisan Union claimed that an average annual increase in MSP was 8 to 12 per cent during UPA regime while it is 1 to 5 per cent in the Modi-led NDA regime. It further claimed that non procurement at MSP “is a serious problem in last 3 years”.
“We don’t want Rs. 500 as alms but we demand support price which is our right,” Tikait said. He further added that there was no assurance that the farmers would get MSP if they sell their produce outside the mandi.
With regard to PM’s claim on urea, Tikait said farmers suffered the losses as the weight of urea was brought down by 5 kilograms. Similarly on Modi’s claims on promoting beekeeping, Tikait said honey farmers had been protesting against BT Mustard, but the Modi government was not bothered about their protest.
On yet another claim by Modi on the pulses, Tikait referred to the cases of farmers’ suicides in Bundelkhand said even today pulses are not purchased at MSP and Bundelkhand is an example of this.
– global bihari bureau
