Ongoing protests by the Indian government will not be able to continue indefinitely or it will derail the country’s economic recovery from the Kovid-19 epidemic, an Indian government minister told CNBC on Monday.
Thousands of Indian farmers have been protesting for weeks against three agriculture reforms enacted in the law this year. Protesters have claimed that the new measure will lower crop prices and hurt their income.
The protests have hurt agriculture and related industries. According to India’s Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
Asked by CNBC’s Tanveer Gill about the extent to which the protests have disrupted agricultural production, Puri said, “This has affected not only agriculture but also other allied areas and has definitely caused damage.”
“We have to move on. And after Kovid, when the economy is slowly coming to pre-Kovid levels, there is a revival in demand, production, etc. More shocks, ”he said Tuesday.
Farmers gathered on the border connecting Delhi and Uttar Pradesh to protest the new farm law.
Shakib Ali | Hindustan Times | Getty Images
The minister, who is also with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, defended agricultural reform. He reiterated the government’s position that the move would benefit farmers, and to raise farmers ’apprehensions about reforms that would be blamed on“ interests ”by the parties.
Puri said important steps like minimum support prices would remain. The minimum support price or MSP is the price fixed by the Government of India for the purchase of a particular crop – there is a guarantee of minimum benefit to farmers for their crop, regardless of market conditions. The union fears that farmers could receive lower wages for their crops if the system is scrapped.
Farm improvement is required
Economists generally agree that India’s agricultural sector needs reform. Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58% of India’s population but accounts for about 15% of GDP.
Puri said the government has often tried to resolve any issues with the farmers’ representatives regarding the reforms. The minister said he believed the message to the government for farmers was that “domestic mobilization has begun.”
I am sure that farmers who are a very productive sector of our society will sit with the government and we will find a way forward.
Hardeep Singh Puri
Minister of Civil Aviation of India K.
“Any problem, no matter how serious, you can always find a solution. And the government is committed to finding a solution,” he said.
“And I am sure that the very productive class of our society, the peasants, will sit with the government and we will find a way forward.”
The protest comes at a time when the Indian economy is being affected by the effects of the Kovid-19 epidemic. India’s economy contracted by a record 23.9% year-on-year in the April-June quarter after a nationwide crackdown to end the spread of coronavirus. The economic contraction narrowed in the quarter ending September, down from .5.5 per cent a year earlier.
Still, the International Monetary Fund forecast in October that the Indian economy would shrink by 10.3% in the current financial year ending March 2021.
– Saheli Roy Chaudhary contributed to this report.
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