That prime minister Narendra Modi would address nine crore farmers from six states via video conference and distribute Rs 18,000 crores to the community on Friday was given. But no-one had foreseen the ferocity with which the PM would lay into Opposition.
Modi singled out Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal) by name and Pinayari Vijayan/Rahul Gandhi by inference in a scathing attack.
“You never raised your voice for the farmers in Bengal but are supporting protestors from farmers from Punjab…today I regret that more than 70 lakh farmers and my brothers and sisters from West Bengal have not been able to get this benefit.
“More than 23 lakh farmers of Bengal have applied online to take advantage of this scheme. But the state government stopped the verification process long ago.”
Modi then turned his attention on Vijayan’s Kerala. He questioned the hypocrisy of state’s politicians, which by inference also includes Rahul Gandhi who represents the Wayanad seat, asking if the APMC is so good, why their state has not implemented it yet. Without naming Rahul Gandhi, Modi said instead of getting photographed, start a protest in Kerala to get APMC.
“The groups who are talking about mandis, APMC are the ones who destroyed West Bengal, Kerala. There are no APMCs and Mandis in Kerala. So why are no protests in Kerala? Why don’t they start a movement there? But are only misguiding the farmers of Punjab,” said Modi.
Modi saw the farmers’ protest without any fact or logic and that innocent farmers were being misled by political parties for political reasons. The political parties shouting today were the ones who ignored the farmers’ conditions when they were in power, said Modi.
More or less, Modi addressed every issue which has been in the air, propped up by media and Opposition.
For instance, interacting with farmers from Arunachal Pradesh who produce organic ginger, Modi asked whether the private companies are taking away their land too along with ginger? In response, farmers said they have signed the contract with the companies just for the procurement of their finished products and not their land.
“You are sitting in a corner of Arunachal Pradesh and are assured that your land is safe but there are some people spreading rumours that along with your product, they will also take away your land,” said Modi.
Modi didn’t miss the aspect of contract farming too. “In many parts of the country, agreement farming has been tried. It has been done in the dairy sector. So far, have you heard that a company has monopolized the dairy industry?
“We connected over 1,000 mandis online, where more than Rs 1 lakh crore of trade has already happened. Some people feigning concerns about farmers’ land; We all know about those whose names came up in media for land grabbing.”
On APMC and Mandis, this is how the PM’s interaction went with a farmer from Madhya Pradesh, Manoj Patidar.
“Under the new farm laws, we can now sell the farm produce to any private business/organisation. This year, I sold 85 quintal soybean to ITC,” said Patidar.
“…Are you saying that you are benefiting from this. Do the private players take away your money or pay you less,” Modi asked.
“This is not the case as we have the option to sell it elsewhere,” said Patidar. “They inspect our product in front of us and in terms of payment too, they are very straightforward.”
As for Minimum Support Price (MSP), Modi claimed that his government is doing record purchases on MSP.
“Our govt has made more crops eligible for MSP benefit and given a record amount of money to farmers.”
Said Modi: Do you want to sell your produce at MSP? You can sell it. Do you want to sell your produce in the market? You can sell. Do you want to export? You can export. Do you want to sell it to the merchant? You can sell. You want to collect all the produce of your village and sell it through FPO (Farmers Producer Organization) medium, you can sell.
“Today, the farmer of the country is getting his pucca house, getting a toilet, getting clean water. This is the farmer who has benefited greatly from the free connection of electricity, the free connection of gas, free treatment up to 5 lakh rupees under the Ayushman Bharat scheme has reduced the major concern of his life.”
Among the salient features of Farm Acts 2020, Modi highlighted the points below:
Previously, farmers needed to pay a penalty if the break the agreement between them and the company. Under the new laws, government has made sure farmers don’t have to pay any penalty;
Company signing the agreement with a farmer cannot break that agreement. Only farmer has the right to make that agreement null and void;
Under these laws, the buyers (traders or companies) would be bounded by the legal rules and they have to clear the farmers’ payment within three days. If not, the law gives power to farmers to take legal action against them.
If by chance, due to any circumstances, the farmer’s produce gets spoiled, the company is bound to pay the decided amount to farmers;
In case there is excess production, and the company has received good production, the company would not only give the amount promised in agreement but also has to pay an extra share as a bonus to farmers.
