In talks on farm reform laws, the government blamed the farmers for the current stalemate, but clearly stated that it was in no mood to revoke the laws as demanded by that of the farmers rallying on Delhi borders.
Union Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar and Minister of Commerce and Railways Piyush Goyal, addressing a press conference here on the amendments proposed by the government, asked the protesting farmers’ unions to review the proposed changes and to come back for talks.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha has already opposed the plan, spearheading the opposition, saying that nothing less than the dropping of the law was appropriate.
‘MSP is going to proceed’
“It seeks to establish an utterly incorrect assumption that the government will not continue procurement under the Minimum Support Price (MSP). On the floor of the house and on national television, the government has made it clear that public procurement will continue at MSP rates as it currently does through all the APMCs and that all the necessary taxes and other fees will continue to be charged to the State APMCs,” Goyal said.
Also Read: Farmers reject amendments to the Centre’s controversial farm laws, protest to continue
The government is willing to ensure that they will not inconvenience the farmers, the ministers said on the proposed electricity amendment bill and stubble burning. They, however, acknowledged that these proposed changes were not demanded by the protestors as they only wanted the laws to be repealed. The state wanted to compile the sticking points and sought to tackle them.
‘Common man Understands’
In a statement, the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) stated, “Ordinary working class people understand that all these laws have been designed for corporate and monopolise India’s food (production, trade and supply) security and the government is a willing participant to the theft and plundering of the food chain by ‘crony’ capitalists”.
Also Read: First introduce the promised pro-farmer initiatives, then enact the agriculture laws
‘Just hard work by farmers’
It also called the Minister of Agriculture ‘cruel and cussed’ for saying that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visionary action that led to higher productivity even during pandemic. ” Despite the various barriers placed by the government during the pandemic from harvesting to marketing, either the Minister does not know how much the farmers have struggled to achieve these productivity levels or he is joining the PM in attempting to steal credit for the hard work of farmers,” it charged.
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