Amidst farmers’ protest against farm bills in Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lambasted the opposition for setting up a new trend of fearmongering over issues.
“For some time, a different trend has been seen in the country. Earlier, if someone did not like the decision of the government, it used to be opposed.
But for some time now, we are seeing that the opposition is spreading confusion in society about what has not happened yet, which will never happen. They say the decisions are fine, but problems may arise later. The same is happening in the case of agricultural reforms,” he said.
Farmers are expressing apprehension that the new laws would pave a way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.
Modi said the MSP will not be dismantled because his government is making huge investments to modernize the mandis. “Tell me if the mandis and the MSP were to be removed, then why should the government invest so much to give them strength? We are spending crores of rupees to modernize the mandis,” he said.
Making his stand for modernizing mandis even more clear, Modi said his government, in the last five years compared to the previous regime, has purchased pulses worth Rs 49,000 crore, an increase of about 75 times.
“Talking about pulses, in the five years before 2014, around Rs 600 crores were purchased from the farmer, but in the subsequent 5 years, the government has purchased pulses worth about Rs 49,000 crore, an increase of about 75 times,” Modi said.
Likewise, the government has purchased paddy worth Rs five lakh crores in the last five years prior to 2014 as MSP, Modi said. The earlier government had purchased paddy worth 2 lakh crores only, he added.
“That is, almost two and a half times more money has gone to the farmer,” he said.
In five years before 2014, farmers got around 1.5 lakh crore rupees on the purchase of wheat, but in his five years of his government, wheat farmers have got 3 lakh crores as MSP, around times more, Modi said.
“Now tell me that if the mandis and the MSP were to be removed, then why should the government invest so much to give them strength? We are spending crores of rupees to modernize the mandis,” he said.
Modi said 21 lakh farmer families have joined PM Kisan Maandhan Yojana in a short time.
“We promised to make pension plans for farmers. Today, the PM Kisan Maandhan Yojana is implemented and in a short time, 21 lakh farmer families have joined it. New agricultural reforms have been brought on the basis of this track record of landing promises,” he said.
Further scotching rumors, Modi clarified that the new farm bills give farmers options to sell their produce, either at the mandis or outside. The bills also give them legal protection, he added.
Earlier MSP used to be declared but very little was done on this front, he said adding that it was tricked for years.
Large loan waiver packages were announced in the name of farmers, but they did not reach the small and marginal farmers, Modi said. “That is, the name of the debt waiver was also cheated,” he said.
Big schemes were announced in the name of farmers, but they believed that out of 1 rupee, only 15 paise reached the farmer, he said.
“These are the same people who have consistently tricked the farmers for decades,” he added.
“When you see the track record of this government, the truth will come out automatically. We had said that we will stop black marketing of urea and give sufficient urea to the farmer. We did not allow deficiency of urea in the last six years. Earlier, urea was bought in black and we have seen farmers who came to buy urea were lathi-charged,” he said.
Modi said the government had promised to give one and a half times the cost of MSP in line with the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendation.
“This promise was not only fulfilled on paper but has reached the bank account of the farmers,” he said.
Earlier, the PM said the transactions outside the market were illegal, and in such a situation, small farmers were cheated and disputed. “Now, the small farmer can also take legal action on every deal that is out of the market,” he added.
Farmer families, which still have some concerns, have some questions, so the government is also constantly answering them, Modi said.
“I am confident that the farmers who have some doubts on agricultural reforms today, will also increase their income by taking advantage of these agricultural reforms in the future,” he said.