As the farmers’ protest entered the 15th day, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that the Centre will not withdraw the three farm laws enacted and appealed to the protesting farmers to withdraw their agitation while stating the government was open to holding more discussions.
“The government is ready to consider with an open mind any provision in the new laws where farmers have any issues and we want to clarify all their apprehensions,”Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said at a press conference in Delhi.
“We kept waiting for suggestions from farmers’ leaders to address their concerns, but they are stuck on the repeal of laws,” he said.”I want to appeal to farmers to give our proposal a thought. Government is ready for dialogue whenever you wish,” he added.
Tomar said the government has always been ready for dialogue with farmers and it remains so but added that the continued demand for withdrawing the legislations was “not acceptable”.
Union minister Piyush Goyal, who was also present at the briefing, reiterated the appeal for the farmers to withdraw their protest, while asserting that “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government was, is, and always will be committed to the farmers’ causes”.
“We are also conscious that many farmers across the country have supported the laws. The recent poll results show that farmers have reposed their faith in the Modi government,” Goyal said, adding that as the country is fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, he “earnestly” appeals to the farmers and farmer unions should stop the protest and continue talks with the Centre.
He said the government is very open and flexible to find an amicable solution for the benefit of India’s farmers.
Reacting to the government’s statement, farm leaders said that they reject the proposal sent by the Centre and repeated their demand for withdrawing the laws, reported NDTV.
The leaders said they were ready for talks but added that there was no point in discussing the proposal sent by the government on Wednesday, a day after union home minister Amit Shah held a meeting with 13 farmers unions.
Farmers on @AgriGoI minister Narendra Tomar’s PC :- Darshanpal :-
We are ready for talk but we reject the proposal sent by union govt ,
There is no point in discussing this proposal, Repeal the laws @ndtv— Saurabh shukla (@Saurabh_Unmute) December 10, 2020
The press briefing comes a day after farmers’ leaders rejected the government’s proposal promising a written assurance on Minimum Support Price (MSP) and amending certain portions of two of the three contentious farm laws and announced that they will intensify their agitation.
The Centre has maintained that the three farm laws will ensure that middlemen are removed from the process which will give farmers autonomy and the freedom to sell anywhere in the country. Tomar termed them as major reforms in the agriculture sector. However, farmers who have been protesting at various borders of the National Capital for nearly two weeks now, have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of MSP and do away with the APMC mandis, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates. The issues have not been resolved despite six rounds of talks between the unions and the Centre.
The government has also brought changes into the Essential Commodity Act, liberalising the limits of stockpiling essential commodities like pulses, potatoes, onions, etc.
At Thursday’s briefing, Goyal reiterated that the laws were brought in to provide farmers with more choices to expand their business and termed as completely erroneous the concerns that farmers would be forced to sell their produce in private markets.
“There were some concerns that farmers will be forced to sell their produce in private market. This is completely erroneous, there is absolutely no provision in the law which brings an element of compulsion on any farmer,” he added.
Goyal asserted that the new laws do not affect the Agricultural Produce Market Committee(APMC )and that would remain protected. Farmers are only being given an additional option to sell their produce at private mandis, he said adding that the government was willing to ensure that the private markets are taxed at APMC levels to ensure a level trading field.
On the issue of MSP, the ministers said that the “an absolute wrong impression” was being created and insisted that government will continue procurement at MSP rates and was willing to give an assurance to this regard in writing.
Tomar said that while farmers are concerned that their land could be occupied by industrialists under the new laws, “contract farming has been going on for long in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka but there has never been such an experience.” “Still, we have already made provision in the Act that agreement under these laws will only be between processors and farmers’ produce. There is no provision for any lease or agreement over farmers’ land,” Tomar added.
On the issue of the electricity, the ministers said that amended law will have provisions for the state governments to continue giving subsidies to discoms.
Seeking to counter objections over the Centre’s powers to make laws on the subject of agriculture, Goyal said that the Centre was empowered to make laws on the issue of trade under the concurrent list.
As per the Indian Express, Tomar said :” During the talks, many said that farm laws are invalid as agriculture is State subject and Centre can’t frame these laws. We clarified, we have the right to make laws on trade and explained it to them.”
The ministers also touched upon the subject of the dispute resolution mechanism in the farm laws,
Addressing the farmers’ concern over the SDM being appointed as one of the nodal officials for grievance redressal under the new farm laws, Narendra Singh Tomar said that the provision had been brought in as the SDM is the “closest magisterial official” that the farmers can approach and access with their complaints directly.
Praising the Narendra Modi government for its work done for farmers, Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar slammed the Opposition for extending support to the protest
“We are ready for further discussions. the entire country is witness to the fact that the Swaminathan Committee reports recommendation to increase the MSP by 1.5 times was not implemented for a long time. In spite of the financial burden Prime Minister Narendra Modi increased the MSP and the entire country is drawing its benefits,” he said.
He added that the new laws will provide the farmers with foolproof grievance redressal through the SDM and added that the farmers will find a safety net in the new laws.
With inputs from PTI