While ongoing farmers agitation at various points of Delhi borders, confronting the inclement chilly cold weather, is still in high spirits, despite losing more than thirty peasents who died during the movement, with its strength surging day by day, the prime minister Narendra Modi has in his speech assured of the government’s readiness to hold parleys with them in order to resolve the impasse.
However despite prime minister Narendra Modi’s speech on Friday defending the three new agricultural laws and assuring the agitating farmers about the 3 laws not impacting the MSP, including assurance of doubling peasents’ income, Mandies to remain intact etc, the struggling farmers have spurned his call for renewed negotiations.
However, there are some organisations of farmers who are openly backing the three agricultural laws and urging the government, not to come under the pressure of agitating farmers to curb these three laws, lest they will be constrained to hold demonstration to pressurise the central government not to submit to the protesting farmers in order to continue with the 3 agricultural laws.
One of the so called India Kisan Union has openly come in favour of the new Kisan laws urging the govt to implement them in toto, calling upon the representatives of agitating farmers to negotiate with the government to resolve the issue.
Addressing a press conference at Noida today, the president of Indian Kisan Union Choudhary Ram Kumar Walia has while declaring the three agricultural laws as bringing prosperity to farmers have urged the union government not to submit under the pressure of agitating farmers and implement them in toto.
Saying that he is neither in favour of the government nor against the agitating farmers, the Indian Kisan Union is of the strong opinion that these new laws will not only end the prevailing middlemen culture who pocket the major share of the farmers income but will also open new opportunities to earn handsomely by selling their produce to the agribusiness houses.
He added that after studying these bills in detail the IKU has come to the conclusion that the farmers will be benefitted in terms of conveniently selling their produce on MSP, farmers owning five or less hectares of farms will gain through contract farming, will be able to sell in agriculture Mandies as before and through open markets as well etc thus getting relief from financial insecurity and optimism of destruction of cultivation.
Walia appealed to the farmers representatives to participate in a meeting convened at PUSA Agricultural institute in Delhi on 28 th December by the union government to be presided over by union agriculture minister Narendra Tomar, agricultural scientists n officers including farmers unions and find ways and means to resolve this ongoing crisis. Walia further reiterated that the new laws will ensure enhancement in the cold storage and food investment leading to storage of its produce according to their capacities. It will also result in increase in competitiveness enhancing their income. What is worth mentioning is that IKU appreciates a clause of contract farming in one of the agricultural laws saying that there is a provision for making a national framework on contract farming.
