Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman has said that doubling farmers’ income by the year 2023 is the underlying objective of the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation), Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance, and Farm Services and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Acts, 2020.
The Congress and other parties unleashed a false propaganda that these Acts would infringe on the rights of the States and were a loss-making proposition for the farmers, she stated while addressing an awareness programme on the laws, organised by the BJP here on Wednesday.
Ms. Sitharaman said the biggest advantage for the farmers was the facility to sell their produce anywhere in the country, devoid of any interference by the middlemen.
She alleged that the Congress party wanted to disband the Agricultural Produce Market Committees and even included it in its election manifesto.
Certain amendments made to the Essential Commodities Act would be of great help to the farmers who bore the brunt of the vagaries of the market. The services being rendered through the Electronic National Agriculture Market were being taken to the grassroot level to ensure that the farmers earned decent returns on their produce, the Union Minister said.
BJP A.P. affairs co-incharge Sunil Deodhar, MP G.V.L. Narasimha Rao, former State party president Kanna Lakshminarayana, MLCs P.V.N. Madhav and Vakati Narayana Reddy, State party vice-presidents Ravela Kishore Babu and Ch. Adinarayana Reddy, and Kisan Morcha State president Sasibhushan Reddy were among those present.