Centre reaches out to stakeholders on farm bills; Rajnath meets farmers, policy experts

New Delhi, October 13

Reaching out to stakeholders to allay apprehensions about the recently passed farm bills, Union Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday met policy experts, industry leaders and academicians associated with the agriculture sector, who were all praise for the new legislation.

Singh along with Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has so far held a series of meetings with farmers and many others associated with the farm sector to deliberate upon the three agriculture-related bills recently passed by Parliament.

Chairman of Global Food and Retail Council Rakesh Gambhir, who was part of the delegation that met both Union Ministers, said it was a good interaction and praised the government for bringing these three bills.

“In a way these three farm bills will usher a new era of reforms in the agriculture sector and will give farmers’ independence from the clutches of the middle men and help in getting them better prices for their produce,” Gambhir told reporters after the meeting.

Echoing similar sentiments, Chairman of Punjab-based Green Valley Farms, RPS Gandhi said there are enormous benefits of the new farm-related legislation but the farmers need to be made aware and educated about it.

He said talking to the farmers in their own language is important so that there is no confusion about these three bills.

Last week, Singh had a long meeting with a delegation of award-winning farmers including a Padma Shri awardee to deliberate on the government’s farm legislations.

Earlier in a statement, Singh had assured that the MSP mechanism will stay and the support price will continue to rise under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.

The meetings with a number of stakeholders in the agriculture sector are being held at Singh’s residence here.

Chairman of Indian Chamber of Food and Agriculture M J Khan who was present in all the meetings held so far said in a way it is a dialogue process between farmers, key stakeholders in the agriculture sector and the Centre to clear any apprehensions and misgivings about the farm bills. PTI