Pass strong state laws to empower farmers, says Navjot Sidhu
CHANDIGARH: Former state cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday said the Punjab government must frame strong laws for the benefit of state’s farmers so that they do not have to depend on the Centre for livelihood.
Speaking to media persons, Sidhu added that instead of waiting for a nod from President or the Governor, in the amendments earlier made by the state government in central laws, the state should focus on four issues to make farming self-sustaining. He added that since agriculture was a state subject, the Vidhan Sabha can pass these laws.
He reiterated that the three farm laws passed by the Centre are an infringement upon the state’s power, and the laws encroached upon the rights of state peasantry.
He added that storage facility for food grain must be created for a cluster of four to five villages, which should be at the disposal of the farmers. “It will give farmers the power to hold their stocks and dispose it off, at an appropriate time when the prices shoot up,” he suggested.
He added that the ambit of the Minimum Support Price
(MSP) must be extended to pulses and oilseeds. “The government spends large sums on import of pulses which could be used to pay support price to farmers,” he added, also pleading for assured income for landless farmers. Sidhu added that they be covered under a MNERGS like scheme so that landowning farmers who engage them are also benefitted.
He added that the control of co-operatives must be with farmers, instead of bureaucrats and officers. Referring to the models of milk cooperatives of Amul and Verka which are controlled by milk producers and dairy owners, Sidhu said that such cooperatives can help market farmers’ produce.