As the Capital and several other parts of the nation are witnessing massive protests by Indian farmers against the recently passed and contentious farm laws, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has again reiterated that unlike what the farmers are assuming, the farm laws will actually be very beneficial for the community.
We find ourselves at a time when the standoff between the farmers and the Centre has also been growing in the last two weeks and a series of talks and attempts to negotiate have miserably failed and the farmers have retained a firm commitment to their demand for a complete rollback of the “black laws”.
Amidst all this, Indian PM Narendra Modi has gone ahead and said that the laws will be beneficial for the farmers and it will give them access to new markets and access to technology and encourage them to invest in ways that bring them better profits and higher gains.
PM Modi said, “We had seen walls between agriculture sector and other areas associated with it- be it agriculture infrastructure, food processing, storage and cold chains.”
PM Narendra Modi made these comments at the inauguration of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s 93rd General Meeting. He also added,“All walls and obstacles are being removed now. After reforms, farmers will get new markets, options and more benefits and technology.”
Assuring the protesting farmers he also underlined that the cold storage network in India will also be adequately modernised so that the farming sector is benefitted enough.
At present the country is witnessing massive protests by agitating farmers against the farm laws and a series of talks between the Centre and the farmers have failed. Tens of thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and other states have been protesting at the entry points to Delhi since the last 16 days as they fear that the newly introduced farm laws will will lead to making the MSP system weak and make them vulnerable in the hands of the corporates.
They also fear the price dropping of crops, denial of a fair remuneration and assert their fear that under the new system, they will come at the receiving end of corporate monopoly. But to calm down the farmers, the Centre has kept on saying that the laws are being misunderstood and the farmers are being misguided by vested interest.
They demand a total rollback of the three laws and a guarantee to the MSP system so that they are freed from unfair monopoly of strong market players, are ensured the right prices for their crops and are empowered in the market space as against what they assume the new laws will bring about.
The farmers protest has been supported by the Opposition parties who allege that the contentious farm laws are anti-farmer and benefit big businesses rather than farmers.
