Farmers protest : Agriculture minister Tomar again indicates govt will not roll back farm laws
Dated : 23 Dec 2020 (IST)
Amid farmers’ agitation against the central farm laws, agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Tuesday said whenever path-breaking reform was initiated, there was a tendency to first make fun of it, then oppose it and finally accept it.
“We are currently passing through this process,” Tomar said in a clear signal to protesting farmers that the government will not back down from the three laws which will provide them freedom to sell their produce outside regulated ‘mandis’ and encourage them to go for contract farming in a secure way.
The minister’s remarks came during his interaction with members of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia on the issue of farm laws and the ongoing agitation which entered the 27th day on Tuesday. The interaction was part of an outreach to inform the media about the government’s viewpoint.
Responding to a question on farmers’ outburst against two corporate houses (Adani and Ambani) as they believe the farm laws will only benefit them, Tomar said he would not consider such people farmers who either initiate or end discussions taking names of these corporate houses.
Noting that taking names of these corporate houses in any discussion was only meant to divert attention from real issues, the minister said farmers’ representatives should ideally stick to issues which were being discussed with the government.
Appealing to farmers’ unions to come for talks, Tomar said the answer to any ‘andolan’ (movement) in history was not ‘andolan’. “Solutions can be found only through discussions and I am confident to arrive at solutions through discussions in the coming days,” he said, adding that he was pained at farmers’ plight in this cold and pandemic situation.
During the interaction, Tomar explained how these farm laws were the “biggest agricultural reforms in the country so far”. He said, “The reforms will provide farmers market freedom and access to technology, and encourage entrepreneurship that will transform agriculture.”
On farmers’ demand for legal guarantee to procurement at minimum support price (MSP), the minister said MSP was an administrative decision would continue.
