Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal on Tuesday sought the help of chartered accountants’ fraternity to make farmers understand the benefits of the legislative reforms undertaken by the Centre.
Mr. Goyal, who is also the Minister for Railways, Commerce and Industry, said the government was ready to address the fears expressed by some sections of farmers.
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“There are a few apprehensions raised by farmers, particularly for Punjab, which we are addressing and are ready to address. I am confident that going forward, as more people understand and appreciate the good work that these changes are seeking to do, we will see huge improvement in the lives and prosperity of our farmer brothers and sisters,” the Minister said, speaking at an event on start-ups hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
‘Humble effort’
“I would urge you to help farmers understand the great benefits that we are trying to provide to farmers across the length and breadth of the country,” Mr. Goyal told the CAs in attendance, stressing that the new laws were the government’s ‘humble effort to support our farmers’.
“Every care has been taken to ensure that without affecting the existing ecosystem available to farmers — the APMCs, mandis, arathiya system — everything has been kept intact. We have only offered new opportunities to farmers, only opened the doors wider for our farmers so that they get options, newer opportunities and new markets,” he explained.
Comparing farm produce to a book, Mr. Goyal said nobody ordered book publishers to operate in only one market or sell to a specified set of traders. Similarly, the new laws enable farmers to sell their produce to ‘anybody in the country in any market at any price they like,’ the Minister explained.
“I think this effort to open opportunities for the farmers is a huge reform which will, in the long run, help our farmers exponentially increase their income, go in for better cropping patterns, engage with technology, make collective farmer producer organisations to get the best of seeds and adequate funding at low cost, provide them with an opportunity to produce valuable and profitable crops, ensure protection against adverse circumstances, to get drip irrigation into their farms, get better cash crops, to do multi-cropping,” he said.