New farm laws have brought new options and opportunities for farmers and also provide legal protection to them, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday even as thousands of farmers stay put at the Delhi border points for the fifth day to protest against the agricultural reform laws.
Modi said the benefits of the new laws will be experienced in the coming days.
Speaking at Varanasi after inaugurating the six-lane widened Handia-Rajatalab section of National Highway 19, the prime minister asserted that the new laws have empowered the Indian farmers.
"India's agricultural products are famous all over the world. Should not the farmer have access to this big market and higher prices? Shouldn't a farmer get the freedom to sell his produce directly to those who give them better prices and facilities. If someone considers transactions from the old system only, then where has that been stopped?," he asked.
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Pointing out that transactions outside the market were illegal earlier and that small farmers used to get cheated in such situations, Modi said now farmers are being given the options for a bigger market and the new reforms will give them more options.
Criticising the opposition, the prime minister said earlier the decisions of the government were opposed but now the criticism is based on mere apprehensions. He said confusion is spread in society about what has not happened yet, which will never happen. He said these are the same people who have consistently tricked the farmers for decades.
Modi said for years farmers have been cheated on the name of Minimum Support Price (MSP).
“Large loan waiver packages were announced in the name of farmers, but they did not reach the small and marginal farmers. He added big schemes were announced in the name of farmers but earlier regimes themselves believed that out of 1 rupee, only 15 paisa reached the farmer, which is deceit in the name of schemes,” he said.
Modi claimed that the government has delivered on the promise of stopping the black marketing of urea and giving enough urea to the farmers. He said the government delivered on the promise of fixing MSP at 1.5 times the cost in line with the recommendation of the Swaminathan Commission. This promise was not only fulfilled on paper, but has reached the bank account of the farmers.
Meanwhile, peaceful protests were underway at both the Singhu and Tikri borders with no untoward incident reported for the last two days, but the numbers of farmers at the Ghazipur border swelled, with more their counterparts from the state joining them.
Rejecting the Centre's offer to hold talks once they move to the Burari ground, the farmers protesting at all Delhi border points said they will not accept any conditional dialogue and have called a meeting to discuss their next course of action later in the day.