Protective shield to farmers, PM Modi backs farm bills

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday took on critics of his government’s farm-liberalisation plan, a day after the Lower House passed two of the three farm bills, accusing detractors of spreading “misinformation and lies”, while reassuring farmers the reforms were in their best interests.

Modi called the reforms a “protective shield” around farmers, which would bring “more options and opportunities”. His comments, made in a video address dedicating a railway bridge in Bihar and also on microblogging site Twitter, came after Lok Sabha passed by a majority voice vote the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020. On Tuesday, the Lower House passed a third legislation, the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020.

Modi addressed concerns about prices and the country’s procurement system, under which the government buys farm produce at federally-fixed minimum support prices (MSP) from farmers. There’s disinformation that the government would withdraw benefits of support prices, he said. The Prime Minister said the country’s procurement system will continue to run as usual.

“People who ruled this country for decades and were in power… such people are trying to mislead farmers. They are telling lies to farmers,” Modi said.

“Disinformation is also being spread that wheat and rice, etc, will not be procured by the government from farmers. This is an absolute lie, completely wrong and an attempt to cheat farmers,” the Prime Minister said.

Modi said the government is committed to give farmers “appropriate prices” through the support-price mechanism. “I want to give farmers a message. Don’t fall for lies.”

The main opposition Congress and a clutch of smaller parties are opposed to the reforms. A key opposition to the bills on Thursday came from the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal, whose minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned from the Union Cabinet, exposing a crucial rift between the two parties over efforts to unshackle the farm sector.

India’s agricultural trade still requires licenced traders who must operate out of notified markets allotted to them. The bills aim to sidestep this system, called agricultural produce market committees (APMC), free up market restrictions, enable farmers and agribusinesses to engage more confidently under a new contract farming law and help to create modern supply chains. Critics argue the new system will lack adequate oversight in its current form.