NEW DELHI: Asserting that the Centre is ready to speak to any farmer on the farm Bills even at midnight, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar said that the Bills will only empower them to improve their income.
Arguing that the mechanism of Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) is an administrative arrangement, Tomar on Thursday said that the doors of the government are open for the farming community for talks to dispel the misgiving fanned by the Opposition.
Speaking to reporters at the BJP headquarters, Tomar said that the Opposition has been slamming the farm Bills for what they don’t contain, since there is nothing in the legislative proposals which could have been criticised.
“I want to state it again that the MSP is there as an administrative mechanism, and it will continue to exist. The Opposition is criticising the farm Bills for the reason that there is no mention of the MSP. The Congress was in power for 50 years. Why did the main Opposition party not include the MSP in the law when the party was in power,” asked Tomar said.
The minister said that the farm Bills will empower the farmers to improve their income, while also protecting them from income loss because of any reason. “The contracts entered between the farmers and the traders will guarantee the farmers of the income even if there is crop loss due to hailstorm, flood or any other reasons, while also allowing them to gain from the price escalation,” said Tomar.
The Minister said that contract farming exists in Maharashtra, Haryana, Punjab and other states, and he hasn’t yet come across any incident of farmers losing their rights. “There cannot be any contract for the ownership of land and even the conciliation committee in the event of any dispute cannot pass orders which could affect the ownership of land of the farmers,” said Tomar.
Modi is ‘God of farmers’, says Shivraj
Calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘God of farmers’, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said three farm sector reform bills passed recently by Parliament will double the income of cultivators. Speaking to reporters, Chouhan termed those opposing the bills as ‘kisandrohi’ (anti-farmers) and claimed they are doing so to protect the interest of middlemen.