‘Economic indicators show encouraging signs’
NEW DELHI, Dec 12: As farmers vowed to expand their protests over new farm laws, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today assured them that his Government was committed to their welfare and that the legislations were aimed at giving them alternate markets to boost income.
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Without directly referring to the farmers’ agitation, which entered the 17th day today, Modi said agriculture reforms as part of Government efforts are aimed at removing roadblocks, and the new laws will also bring in technology and investment in the sector.
The Government, he said, is committed to protecting the interest and welfare of farmers through its policies and actions.
“Reforms will help draw investment in the agriculture sector and benefit farmers,” he said at the annual meeting of industry body FICCI here. “The aim of all Government reforms is to make farmers prosperous.”
The new legislations, which were approved in the previous Parliament session, give farmers an additional option outside of the designated mandis to buy or sell their crops, he said.
“Farmers have now options to sell their crops in mandis as well as to outside parties,” he said. “While mandis are being modernised, digital platform is also available to farmers to buy and sell their produce.”
These efforts are aimed at raising incomes of farmers, he said. “All these efforts are directed towards improving the farmers’ income so that they become prosperous. When farmers prosper, the country will prosper.”
Hundreds of farmers from States like Punjab and Haryana have blocked some of the highways leading to Delhi borders for more than two weeks now against the new farm laws which they fear will prompt the Government to stop making direct crop purchases at minimum state-set prices, called minimum support price (MSP).
They have vowed to expand their protests across the country until the Government scraps the new farm laws.
The Government has so far refused to heed to their demand but has promised to continue the MSP-based procurement.
The three new laws remove restrictions on marketing farm products and allow cultivators to engage with private companies to sell their crops. This, the Government says, allows farmers an alternate avenue to sell crops, raising their income and is aimed at making farming more competitive.
“After the implementation of recent reforms, farmers will get new markets and new opportunities and they will get help of technology. The country’s cold storage infrastructure will become modern,” he said. “From all these, there will be higher investment in the agriculture sector. The maximum benefit of these reforms would be to small and marginal farmers who earn their living on small plots of land.”
Modi said the Government has taken several initiatives to strengthen the agriculture sector.
“Today the agriculture sector has become more vibrant than the past,” he said.
Listing his Government’s farmer-friendly measures, Modi said the Government has encouraged producing ethanol from sugarcane. This ethanol is blended in petrol to cut India’s oil import dependence and gives farmers remunerative prices for their crops, he said.
Modi said farmers will get technology and benefit from access to the market.
Economic indicators have shown encouraging signs of recovery of the Indian economy post-pandemic, Modi said.
In this time of pandemic, he said, the Government has accorded highest priority to saving lives of Indians and the way India has handled the crisis through concerted effort has surprised the world.
Compared to February when the pandemic started, things have changed in December, he said, adding, there is a road map to deal with this now.
“Even the economic indicators are encouraging,” he added.
Various measures taken by the Government in the last six years has instilled confidence among global investors, he said.
As a result, he said, “India has seen record Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Portfolio Investment inflows during the pandemic.”
He said, a decisive Government always strives to remove obstacles for others and always tries to contribute towards the society and the nation.
Recalling the time when Government was in all the sectors, he said, a visionary and decisive Government, on the other hand, encourages all the stakeholders to realise their potential.
Modi pointed out that in the last six years, the Government has encouraged stakeholders in all sectors and this is reflected in the all-round reforms in sectors ranging from manufacturing to MSME; agriculture to infrastructure; from tech industry to taxation and from real estate to regulatory easing.
Talking about various reforms undertaken by the Government in the last six years, he said changes have been brought in manufacturing, MSMEs, agriculture, infrastructure and regulatory easing. (PTI)
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