Nirmala: New legislations will reform agri sector

CHENNAI: At the time when many parts of the country are witnessing protests against the three farm legislations, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on Tuesday, justified thems and claimed that they will reform the farm sector.

“The farm laws were long-awaited reform measures in the field of agriculture. Producers can sell their produce in any part of the country at the price which is suitable for them and the price and the person to be sold can be decided by farmers themselves,” said Nirmala, while addressing the media, in Chennai.

Recently, the Central government passed three Farm Bills which created a furore across the country. Farmers and opposition parties across the country are protesting against the laws calling them anti-farmers in nature.

However, the central government has been on defensive claiming that the

Union Finance Minister

laws will help the farming community. “There are Acts in several states where farmers were restricted to sell their produce to few possessing licenses in the price fixed not by the farmers but by the traders. The

Farm Bills have removed the barricades and they can trade across the country”, said Nirmala.

She also said that as farmers can trade only within the state, the inter-state trade can be facilitated only by the central government as inter-State Farm trade is in the concurrent list, which is common to both state and central governments.

“Farm Bills have ensured that the producers can fix the price for the agricultural produce and it is up to the farmers to decide whether to sell their products in a physical market or on a digital platform. Till date, other traders had the option of selling their products online but now farmers have also received the option,” said Nirmala.

She further said that till now farmers have paid up to 8.5 percentage tax for selling in markets and storing in yards but now farmers can sell on digital platforms where they need not pay any tax owing to which the prices will fall.

Farmers can sell their produce in any part of the country at the price which is suitable for them and they can also decide the person to whom they want to sell their produce Nirmala Sitharaman,