Narendra Singh Tomar counters NCP chief on new farm legislation

NEW DELHI: Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Sunday expressed dismay over Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar’s tweets criticising the farm laws, saying they were a mix of “ignorance and misinformation” about the legislation, and hoped that the veteran leader will change his stand after knowing the “facts”.

In a series of tweets, Pawar had on Saturday said the new agriculture laws of the Union government will adversely impact the Minimum Support Price (MSP) procurement and weaken the ‘Mandi’ system. The tweets by Pawar -- who as the agriculture minister during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) period had pitched for these reforms -- came at a time when talks between the Centre and the 41 protesting farmers’ unions have reached a deadlock.

Responding to the NCP leader’s remarks, Tomar said , “Pawar himself tried hard to bring the same agriculture reforms earlier.” “Since he speaks with some experience and expertise on the issue, it was dismaying to see his tweets employ a mix of ignorance and misinformation on the agriculture reforms. Let me take this opportunity to present some facts,” Tomar said on Twitter. The minister countered Pawar’s tweet on the amended Essential Commodities (EC) Act over “apprehensions that corporates may stockpile” by saying that “...Under the EC Act, the central government can intervene in case of extraordinary circumstances...extraordinary price rise and natural calamities of grave nature,” Tomar said.

Tomar said that under the new ecosystem, the minister said, the mandis are not affected.

Pawar himself tried hard to bring the same agriculture reforms earlier...it was dismaying to see his tweets employ a mix of ignorance and misinformation