The new Farm Acts are the much needed agrarian reforms under Atma Nirbhar Bharat vision of Prime Minister Modi, to Make India agriculture “Powerhouse”, said Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, here at Bhubaneswar today.
He said that the farmers and villages are central to the Atma Nirbhar Bharat vision of the Modi government. But, some people who have been exploiting farmers for years are misleading them now. They are spreading false information on the agrarian reforms, he said.
In the new farm regime, the farmers will get the freedom to avail market platforms of their interest, said the Union Minister, as he asserted that the MSP system would continue to exist. “This will end the local monopolies.”
The BJP government in the center has passed three bills in the parliament on farmers’ concerns in the monsoon session. One was to allow the farmers to sell their produce outside the government market areas of the states, while the second one was on contract farming. The third bill has brought about some changes in the essential commodity act lifting the limit of storage on some farm products.
The government terms the move as historic. It claims that the new farm Acts will open the agriculture sector for private investment for modern technologies and marketing scopes. But, some political parties, mainly Congress, are not agreeing with the government. They allege that the government has an intention to abolish the MSP regime and allow the corporate houses to take over the farm sector. Thus, Congress is leading farmers to protest against the Act. And, BJP is reaching out to the farmers with its points.
Mr. Pradhan said that the Modi government had increased the MSP of paddy by 150% and that of wheat by 135% in five years. At the same time, his government has bought more crops under MSP during 2014-15 than the previous government had bought during 2009-14.
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