‘I come from farming family,’ Tomar writes open letter to farmers; PM Modi urges to read

Amid the ongoing protest of the farmers which is completing 22nd day on Thursday, Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar wrote an open letter addressing the farmers where he said that misunderstanding had been created among some farmer groups regarding the reforms.

“Several farm unions have welcomed the reforms and are happy,” Tomar said adding that there were farmers from some regions who had already stared availing the benefits of these reforms. He further urged farmers to not get influenced by those who were spreading lies for political selfishness.

 

“As the agriculture minister of the country, my duty is to dispel farmers’ misconceptions, to make every farmer of this country tension-free. It is my duty to expose the conspiracy being hatched to create a wall between the farmers and the Centre,” he wrote in Hindi.

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“I am from a farming family. I have grown up seeing, understanding the challenges of farming. I have seen the distress of untimely rain, the happiness of timely monsoon. These were parts of my growing up. I have also seen the week-long wait to sell crops,” the agriculture minister wrote.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that Tomar had expressed his feelings through this letter and urged all farmers to read it.

 

Here are the key points of Tomar’s letter:

1. The system of MSP, APMC will not be stopped.

2. Farmers’ lands are not in danger. The agreement will be for crops, not for land.

3. The price of produce will be determined in the farming agreement.

4. Farmers will be able to end contract whenever they want.

5. Contract farming is already there. Many states have introduced it. Many states have laws regarding contract farming.

6. There have been consultations for two decades before the laws were passed.

Earlier in the day, Tomar met Union home minister Amit Shah and Union railway minister Piyush Goyal at the BJP headquarters to discuss the farmers’ issues.

Also Read: Won’t interfere with farmers’ protest at this stage, says Supreme Court

The agriculture minister on Wednesday had thanked farmers of Madhya Pradesh for supporting the reforms brought in the month of September. PM Modi is set to hold a virtual conference on Friday with farmers from Madhya Pradesh where Rs 1,660 crore will be transferred to the accounts of 35 lakh farmers by the BJP-led state government.

Five rounds of talks have been held between representatives of farmer groups and the Centre which remained inconclusive. Farmers for several weeks have been camping at border points in the national capital seeking the removal of the reforms. In a major development, the Supreme Court said on Thursday that it won’t interfere with the ongoing agitation at this stage.

“We’re of the view at this stage that the farmers’ protest should be allowed to continue without impediment & without any breach of peace either by the protesters or police,” the apex court said.