Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced critics of his government’s agricultural liberalization plan on Friday, a day after the lower house passed two of the three agricultural bills, accusing critics of spreading “disinformation and lies.” , while assuring farmers that the reforms were at their best. interests.
His comments, made in a speech dedicating a railway bridge in Bihar and also on the microblogging site Twitter, came after Lok Sabha passed the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce bill, 2020, and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection). Agreement on the Law of Guarantee of Prices and Agricultural Services, 2020 by majority vote. On Tuesday, the lower house passed a third piece of legislation, the Essential Products (Amendment) Bill.
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The main opposition party, Congress, and a handful of smaller parties have opposed the reforms. A key opposition to the bills came from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party ally, Shiromani Akali Dal, whose minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned from the Union Cabinet after his party opposed the bills, exposing a crucial gap between the two parties on efforts to unleash the government. agricultural sector.
Modi addressed farmers about price concerns and the country’s procurement system, under which the government buys agricultural products at minimum support prices (MSP) from farmers.
“The people who ruled this country for decades and were in power… those people are trying to fool the farmers. They are telling lies to the farmers, ”Modi said.
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“Fake news is also spreading that government agencies will not get wheat, rice, etc. of farmers. This is an outright lie, completely wrong and an attempt to mislead farmers, ”said the Prime Minister.
A key bill, the Agricultural Products Trade and Trade (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill of 2020, allows buyers of agricultural products to trade outside the mandi system or the wholesale market system administered by the states under the committees Agricultural Products Market or APMC.
APMC laws require farmers to only sell to authorized intermediaries in notified markets, usually in the same area where farmers reside, rather than in open markets, which economists say reduces price discovery and hurts profits agricultural. The bill allows farmers and buyers of their products to trade outside of these markets tax-free, and thus will open up the CMPA to competition.
“The reforms will give new freedom to farmers. These reforms will provide more options and opportunities for farmers to sell their products. ”
Congratulating the country’s farmers on the passage of these bills in the lower house, Modi said the reforms would “protect farmers” from “middlemen.”
“Intermediaries stand between farmers and their customers; these intermediaries take a large part of the farmers’ income. These reforms have become a protective shield for farmers ”.
“The agricultural sector will benefit from modern technology and our farmers will also be empowered,” the Prime Minister said in a series of tweets.
Critics have called for more regulation and supervision, claiming the reforms would replace public monopolies with private ones.
“Ultimately, these so-called reforms will lead to the replication of ancient structures outside of mandis. Creating two market spaces with two completely different sets of rules is a recipe for disaster, ”said Kavitha Kuruganti of the Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture.
“The government will not get to know anything about the transactions in these new markets. Not knowing will give the excuse for not acting. Farmers fear this, with good reason, ”he said.
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