Amid furious protests by farmers against the new farm laws, the Union’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, said that the government intends to continue with the minimum support price (MSP) mechanism for agricultural products. .
At the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Friday, he said he is hopeful for a solution to the current mess.
“If there are some farmers who have doubts and want to talk about it, I’m glad that the agriculture minister is sitting down and engaging in meaningful conversation with them with an open heart. I’m sure something will come out of that, ”she said during a conversation with Hindustan Times editor-in-chief Sukumar Ranganathan.
When asked if the government should turn the MSP into a law to pacify farmers, she said: “Negotiations are ongoing, so I’m not sure it’s good for me to comment.”
But he emphasized that the government takes the MSP very seriously and cares about the interests of farmers.
“Between 2014 and 20, compared to a similar number of years before, we have shown that we take MSP seriously. We acquired under MSP, much more than what previous governments had done. We have given farmers much more money with MSP than what has been done before. “
Sitharam said that the MSP mechanism would continue.
“The Prime Minister’s recent speech in Kashi explains how this government has used the MSP for the benefit of farmers. It proves the government’s intention for the MSP to continue and APMC to continue, ”he said.
The ongoing talks have not softened the farmers’ position. They have called for a Bharat Bandh on December 8 if their demands are not met and the three agricultural laws: the Agricultural Products Trade and Trade (Promotion and Facilitation) Act 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Assurance of Prices and The Agricultural Services Act of 2020 and the Essential Products (Amendment) Act of 2020 are not withdrawn.
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