Media News Archive

HYDERABAD:  Union Minister of State of Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy said that the Central government has no intention of abolishing Minimum Support Pprice (MSP) and in fact, it has made efforts to increase the income of farmers. Speaking at a round table meeting on ‘New Agriculture Marketing Acts’, organised by the BJP Kisan Morcha on Friday, he alleged that Opposition parties were spreading false information on the three new Farmers Acts. 

"It is the cadre of political parties that are staging protests against the Farm laws and not farmers," he added. "Now the situation is like ‘March to Urban’ and it should be changed to ‘March to Rural/Agriculture’. Our government intends to transform agriculture into a respectable occupation and not leave it to the mercy of the government by declaring MSP," he said.

Referring to procurement of farm produce, he claimed that the BJP had done better than the Congress and added, "If we look at the procurement data during the Congress regime from 2009 to 2013, it was very low. During that period, the Congress-led government procured 1,768 metric tonnes at `33,871 crore. Now, our government has procured 2,730 metric tonnes of wheat at `66,801 crore. It is 54 per cent more than what they had procured."

Coming down heavily on the Opposition parties, Kishan Reddy said: "If you have a problem politically with the new Farm Laws, shut your mouths and sit at home."Meanwhile, former IAS officer and founder of Foundation for Democratic Reforms and Lok Satta Dr Jayaprakash Narayan welcomed the the new Farm Laws, stating that it was the first step toward reforms and a lot more needs to be done.

"The reason behind the agrarian crisis in the country is due to the sins committed by politicians. Even if the agricultural policies are made with good intension, they delivered injustice to the farmers. Under new Acts, there is no restriction on use of marketyards. Now, the farmer is at the liberty to sell his produce wherever he wants," Narayan said. Disagreeing with the contentions of Opposition parties, he said: "Are we not buying Apple, Samsung and other devices despite knowing that corporates would benefit out of it? We should relinquish old-fashioned ideas when new laws benefit our farmers."

Courtesy: The New Indian Express