INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called clearing of three farm bills in the Lok Sabha historic, the BJP is putting the party's
political capital behind him
This is despite the dramatic resignation of Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal from the Cabinet
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) affiliate among farmers, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), is upset too
BKS General Secretary Badri Narayan Chaudhary spoke to India Today about the issue in an exclusive interview
Chaudhary said that the bill is tilted heavily towards the corporate and will complicate the lives of farmers further.Here are excerpts from
Now that the Lok Sabha has cleared the three farm sector bills without taking in account Bharatiya Kisan Sangh's objections, what is the way
On this issue, we are with farmers
BKS is not against reforms or creation of alternative mechanisms, but there are genuine concerns of the farmers
The price of produce must be indexed to the minimum support price (MSP) fixed by the government
The bill too liberalised the licence system for traders under the APMC act
Now anyone with a PAN card can become a trader and deal with farmers
The law must have mechanisms to ensure that a farmer is paid when his produce is lifted, else the government must become the guarantor
In the present bill, the entire dispute redressal system is faulty
At present, the bill is bringing ease of business for corporates, but would complicate the lives of farmers further.Q
Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on the floor of the house that the existing MSP system and state's APMC law will continue;
the alternative mechanism is for the surplus.A
If he is so sure, then he should bring this in the legislative paper
Nearly 80 per cent of the farmers in the country are either small or marginal
'One India one market' doesn't work for them
This works either for big corporations or big farmers
The bill doesn't consider complexities in the life of small farmers
Just imagine, the bill says that farmers and corporate can mutually agree on price and conditions of the payments
Can farmers with 1, 2 or 5 acres of land negotiate with big corporations? What if, they don't pay him the full amount? Will a small and
marginal farmer have a wherewithal to deal with them? These small farmers want diversified and decentralised markets nearer to his farms
In the last two budgets, the NDA government is talking about 22,000 new mandis, where are they? It is very unfortunate that Agriculture and
Food ministries are run by bureaucrats, who have no connection with the ground realities.Q
PM Modi called this bill historic, but on the other hand the ally Shiromini Akali Dal's representative in cabinet Harsimrat Badal resigned.A
BKS has nothing to do with politics
We are a farmers' organisation and would always talk for the benefit of the farmers
These bills, in present format, will not help the farmers much
50,000 farmers from across the country wrote letters to the prime minister saying that they don't want this law in present form
Several units of BKS at village level have passed resolutions to oppose it
We have already conveyed this to our colleagues in other RSS affiliates, senior leadership of the BJP and top leaders in government and
broadly listed four major shortcomings in the bill.Q
Did you get any assurance from the government leadership? Now that your demands are not met, will you join the protests?A
We recently had meetings with top leaders in the government on this issue
And had requested them to speak more to the farmers, bring the changes and reconcile with them
The impression we got was that they were listening and would accommodate the concerns of the farmers
But the text of the bill speaks the other language
There is still a chance, when the debate on this issue happens in Rajya Sabha
Our suggestion would be to send it to a select committee and resolve these issues before making a law
We are with farmers, we will join them in the protests but would not get violent or aggressive.
