Niranjan Reddy blasts Centre over inaction on farm laws

Says no clarity in laws if FCI will procure agri produce in future

Peddapalli: Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy on Monday blasted the Union government for not repealing or making changes to the new farm laws despite farmers protesting in the cold weather in New Delhi for the last 50 days.

“Instead of incorporating minimum support price (MSP) in the Act, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is only claiming that farmers will get prices higher than MSP for their produce. When the law has no mention of MSP, what will decide the benchmark for fixing crop prices in the open market? Moreover, there is no clarity whether the Food Corporation of India (FCI) will purchase paddy, and even if they do, how it will,” he said, addressing people after inaugurating Rythu Vedhikas in several villages in the district.

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Stating that about 1.13 crore tonnes of paddy was expected in the ongoing crop season, the Minister wondered what the situation of farmers would be if they pin hopes on the procurement by government. “How the new farm laws would help farmers will be known after a couple of seasons,” he said.

Stating that agriculture is a State subject and the procurement of crops is the responsibility of States, Niranjan said the State government had made this clear many times.

The State government purchased paddy worth Rs 30,000 crore during the lockdown. As promised by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, the government would purchase kharif’s red gram, the Minister said.

In the entire country, Telangana was the only State to implement innovative schemes such as Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bhima, and free 24-hour power to the agriculture sector for the benefit of farmers. Though these were not promised during elections, the State government was implementing them.

For Rythu Bandhu, the government had allocated Rs 7,351 crore in Yasangi and earmarked Rs 13,000 crore for the ongoing season. On the other hand, it had allocated Rs 10,000 crore to ensure free power.

Every year, the State government was spending Rs 55,000 crore to Rs 60,000 crore on the agriculture sector, but Uttar Pradesh, the biggest State in the country, was spending only 10 per cent of its budget.

Local MP B Venkatesh Netha, Zilla Parishad Chairman Putta Madhukar, local MLA Dasari Manohar Reddy and others participated in the programme.

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