MoS Agriculture Kailash Choudhary urges farmers to keep protest peaceful, hopeful of resolution tomorrow
Jan 07, 2021
New Delhi [India], January 7 : The Union Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary on Thursday made an appeal to the agitating farmers to keep the protest march peaceful and emphasised that government was hopeful of a resolution tomorrow.
"I would like to appeal to farmers to keep it peaceful. It is their right to protest but there are people, like Communists, who are inciting farmers and don't want peace in the country. Farmers need to be cautious. I expect that tomorrow's meeting will bring some positive news," said Choudhary while speaking to the ANI.
The agitating farmers are taking out a tractor march on Eastern Peripheral Expressway in protest against three Central farm laws.
The Minister assured that the farm laws brought by the Narendra Modi government are for the welfare of farmers.
While appealing the farmers to protest peacefully, he also laid emphasis on the government's will to revolve the issue at the earliest. "Prime Minister Modi wants the issue to be resolved soon. We want farmers to come to the discussion table. However, only yes and no can't be the way to resolve this issue. If farmers want amendments in these laws, we are ready for it," the Minister reiterated.
Claiming about the support the government is getting from farmers across the country, he said "There is a big section in the society which is supporting these farm laws. Those farmers should also be taken into consideration. I think we will move into the direction of finding a solution."
The Minister also spoke about the reform the government is planning to bring related to pesticides and seed bills.
"I want to reiterate that these three farm laws are revolutionary. Arthiyas have incited the farmers to sit on protest. They have misled them. We have plans to bring in more reforms like pesticide and seed bills. There was a time when farmers used to get bad pesticide and farmer was at a loss of product gets spoiled. We would ensure that farmers won't go through that and will be insured against losses. Modi government is working to make life better for farmers," he added.
Yesterday All India Farmers Association led by the grandson of former PM late Lal Bahadur Shastri too met union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar to extend support to the farm laws.
Several rounds of talks have been held between the representatives of the Central government and the farmer leaders over the past few days in an effort to resolve the issue.
For the past several weeks, farmers have been protesting against the newly enacted farm laws -- Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance, and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.