One of the protesting farmers takes shelter in a makeshift tent on a trolley on Delhi-UP border on Sunday. (File)Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said Opposition parties are trying to misguide farmers over the Centre’s new farm laws and the concept of contract farming because they do not want the country’s development.
Addressing a gathering of farmers at Narendra Dev Agriculture and Technology University in Kumarganj at Ayodhya, he said contract farming guarantees farmers’ welfare.
He said the way of the country’s progress and development goes through the fields of farmers and hence, it is the government’s top priority to make them prosperous and happy. He said the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken several steps for the welfare of farmers and the new laws are steps in the same direction.
“I appeal to you to not be misguided by the misinformation campaign unleashed by the Opposition and be assured that we are not going to leave a single stone unturned to ensure your betterment,’’ he said, while reiterating the Centre’s commitment to double farmers’ income by 2022.
Later in the evening, the UP government said that farmers from the state “have started mobilising in support of the Central government’s agricultural Bills”.”Thousands of farmers took out a march from Muzaffarnagar to Ghaziabad under the banner of `Hind Kisan Mazdoor Samiti’ on Sunday,” a statement issued by the government read.The statement added that the march also passed through Bijnor, Baghpat and other districts before reaching the Ramleela ground in Indirapuram in Ghaziabad.
The farmers also met the Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar before gathering in Ghaziabad, it added.
During the event in Ayodhya, the Chief Minister laid the foundation stone and dedicated 40 projects worth about Rs 90 crore — these projects are in the sectors of agriculture, agriculture science and research, animal husbandry, fishery and irrigation in Ayodhya, Gorakhpur, Basti, Bahraich, Barabanki, Balrampur, Siddharthnagar, Ambedkar Nagar, Amethi, Sultanpur, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Mau, Chandauli and Sonbhadra.
He announced that on December 25, the birth anniversary of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister Modi will transfer a total sum of Rs 18,000 crore to accounts of 9 crore farmers under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. Out of these, as many as 2.30 crore farmers belong to Uttar Pradesh, he said.
The Chief Minister further announced that to promote latest techniques and research in the agriculture, the state government has set up 20 Kisan Vigyan Kendras with the assistance of agriculture universities in the past three years, and some of these centres will be upgraded to centres of excellence.
Stating that contract farming is the need of the hour and it is not going to hurt the interests of farmers in any way, he added that it will instead increase their income considerably. The government is giving the guarantee that farmers will get the right price for their produce, he said, adding that farmers are also free to sell their produce wherever they get the best price.
“However, some people are continuously trying to misguide the farmers and are spreading rumours that the MSP will be quashed and farm mandis will be closed. Our PM is repeatedly assuring that nothing of this kind is going to happen and it is our continuous endeavour that farmers get the best returns for their produce and their income is doubled,” he said.
The Chief Minister said the Opposition does not have any interest in the well-being of the farmers. “The Swaminathan commission’s report was never considered as the Congress did not have the interests of farmers in mind,” he said.
Adityanath said that in its first cabinet meeting in 2017, his government had decided to waive farmers’ loans worth Rs 36,000 crore in all. Even during the pandemic, the state government continued its efforts for the betterment of farmers and as much as 26 lakh metric tonnes of wheat and 52 lakh metric tonnes of paddy have been procured so far, he said.