From Trishna Pegu Doley
GUWAHATI :Farmers of North East will be the biggest beneficiaries of this new agricultural reforms by the Union Government”, Union Minister of State(I/C) for Youth Affairsand Minister of State for Minority Affairs KirenRijiju said during a press conference today in Guwahati.ShriRijiju along with Chief Minister SarbanandaSonowal, Union Minister of State for Food Processing RameswarTeli and Agriculture Minister of Assam Shri Atul Bora held the press conference on “Agricultural Reforms Acts-Historic steps taken by Government of India”.
Speaking on the issue of farm bills, the Minister said that the three Agriculture bills that have recently been passed in theParliament have been the biggest ever agricultural reforms for the welfare of the farmers of the country since independence. KirenRijiju saidthese bills brought by the government will give freedom to the farmersand give them choice to sell their crop anywhere in the country. Complete freedom has been given to the farmers as there are no restrictions in selling their produce, he added. Elaborating further, ShriRijiju said, the farmers will get mandatory support from state to strengthen the farm sector and to get more production.
This amendment will create a positive environment not only for farmers but also for consumers and investors and will help the country to become self-reliant, he added. Lauding Prime Minister’s commitment for doubling the farmers income by 2022, Rijiju said that these reforms have removed all manipulative role of middlemen which will very much benefit the farmers.
Speaking in today’s press conference Union Minister of State RameswarTeli said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking various steps for the benefit of the farmers and as part of those the Farm Bills have been passed whichwill provide sufficient safeguards to the farmers for the sale of crops anywhere as per their choice.In addition to mandis, farmers will get freedom to do trading at farm gate, cold storage, warehouse, processing units etc. Shri SarbanandaSonowalwelcomed the step taken by the Union Government for the empowerment of the farmers and that these new Acts will highly benefit the farmers of Assam as well as the farmers of the rest of the country.
The new legislations will enable the farmer to access modern technology, better seed and other inputs. It will reduce cost of marketing and improve income of farmers, he added. As part of the several landmark decisions by the Government under Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in last six years to ensure farmers welfare, three farm bills have recently been passed by the parliament to whichPresident Ram Nath Kovind also gave his assent. Those bills are the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020.
These reforms are brought by the government to accelerate growth in the farm sector through private sector investment in building infrastructure and supply chains for farm produce in national and global markets.In addition to other provisions procurement at Minimum Support Price will continue and farmers can sell their produce at MSP rate. Rijiju also took part in a seminar on the Empowerment of Farmers where Agricultural Experts, farmers, intellectuals and officials of the Department of Agriculture, Assam Government attended.
