Araga Jnanendra, BJP MLA, Thirthahalli
The Agricultural Produce Marketing Corporation (APMC) and Land Reforms amendment bills are loaded in favour of farmers. Those protesting against these bills have not understood them properly, and are being provoked by opposition parties.If a farmer takes a quintal of arecanut worth Rs 35,000 to the APMC, he has to pay 1 per cent APMC cess and give 2 per cent commission to middlemen. This way, he loses Rs 1,050 on a quintal. This has been done away with in the APMC amendment bill. Oopposition parties say that MNCs will come. What’s wrong in that? Based on demand and supply, farmers will benefit.
Besides, the amendments will not do away with Minimum Support Price (MSP) and subsidies given to farmers. Amendments to the Land Reforms Act allow non-agriculturists who want to take up farming to do so. Many educated people want to do farming, employing technology. Hitherto, though there were restrictions on purchase of agricultural land by non-agriculturists, many would bypass this rule by bribing revenue officials. People from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh purchased agricultural land here using fake certificates. The amendment will do away with such corruption.
Many people are not able to cultivate their land due to old age, and because their children live in cities. This amendment will help them get good prices for their land. The ceiling for a family of five is 54 acres, and for large families it is 108 acres.
The Act prohibits people from purchasing irrigated land for purposes other than agriculture, and violation will attract legal action. We have brought in amendments to suit present conditions. This is not first time, the Land Reforms Act has been amended more than 30 times since the Tenancy Act.