Farm laws: Niranjan Reddy slams BJP for acting against interests of farmers

Niranjan Reddy along with Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao inaugurated the Gram Panchayat building and ‘Rythu Vedika’ at Peddakodepaka village of Shayampet mandal in the district on Tuesday

Warangal Rural: Launching a scathing attack against the Narendra Modi government for enacting the three contentious farm laws, Minister for Agriculture Singireddy Niranjan Reddy on Tuesday called upon the farmers of Telangana to question the BJP leaders who come to them as the farm laws were detrimental to the interests of farmers.

“The Centre that boasts of implementing many schemes though farmers do not ask for them should also answer why it is bringing the things (farm laws) that were opposed by the farmers. People should question the ‘new beggars’ (BJP leaders),” he added.

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Niranjan Reddy along with Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao inaugurated the Gram Panchayat building and ‘Rythu Vedika’ at Peddakodepaka village of Shayampet mandal in the district on Tuesday.

Addressing the villagers on the occasion, the Minister said that a soil testing centre would be sanctioned immediately to the village. “Market yard and warehouses will also be sanctioned to the village. The government has decided to build another 40 lakh metric tonnes of warehouses in the State. Each constituency will receive an additional 40,000 metric tonnes of warehouses. However, I will try to sanction a 10,000 metric tonnes capacity warehouse to Peddakodepaka village,” he added.

Stating that widespread debate was going on the ramifications of the new farm laws, he said they would only benefit corporate companies. “There is also a risk of losing soil fertility as the land would be cultivated by corporate companies,” he said and added that why the Centre had not mentioned about the minimum support price (MSP) in the new acts.

“The idea of MSP was put forward by a committee appointed by the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastry in 1964. The first minimum support price for maize was given in 1976 when Jagjivan Ram was the Union Agriculture Minister. Subsequently, the Centre included 29 varieties of crops in the MSP list. Farmers need to understand this. However, the State governments are left with no option except enforcing the Central laws,” he said.

“We have been urging the Centre to link agriculture sector with the employment guarantee scheme (MNREGA) for several years. We even passed in a resolution in the State Assembly. But did the Centre link the scheme with agriculture? No. The Centre did not care about the welfare of the farmers,” Niranjan Reddy alleged.

Speaking on the State government’s plans to make agriculture a profitable occupation, Niranjan Reddy said that the government was planning to cultivate oil palm crop on 20 lakh acres in the near future. “This time 8.15 lakh acres will be cultivated this time. Central scientists have found that 25 districts in the state are suitable for oil palm cultivation. 20 lakh acres have suitable soils for cultivating potato. Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao is planning to cultivate ‘seed potato’ in the State,” he said.

Expressing similar views on farm laws, Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao also asked the farmers to oppose the farm laws and alleged that the Centre was raising objections over three TMC water coming into the Kaleshwara project. Bhupalally MLA G Venktramana Reddy and others attended the meeting.

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