The three farm Acts will bring in revolutionary reforms in the lives of farmers in the country, according to veteran farmers’ leader Peddireddy Changal Reddy, chief advisor of the Consortium of Indian Farmers’ Associations (CIFA).
Though the present Acts brought in by the Central government should have been actually passed in the 1990s, they got stuck for political reasons, he opines.
"The dreams of Sharad Joshi and M.S. Swaminathan for farmers’ welfare are set to become a reality now. Most of the farmers are still in confusion about the advantages of the reforms, as they are victimised by false political propaganda from some quarters," Mr. Changal Reddy tells The Hindu.
The Central government should immediately launch campaigns to educate farmers about the efficacy of the laws.
All-round improvement
The Acts intended to galvanise agricultural reforms will go a long way in improving productivity and quality, curtailing wastage and strengthening global competitiveness of Indian farm sector. "The CIFA has been demanding reforms in farm sector for the last two decades. The previous UPA government had not honoured the M.S. Swaminathan report. The farmers’ associations are happy with the steps to rejuvenate national economy based on agriculture," Mr. Changal Reddy says.
Lakhs of horticulture and dairy farmers will reap benefits if the reforms are implemented in true spirit. "Though India is producing over 2 crore tonnes of about 1,000 varieties of mangoes, we are not able export even 1%. The aspects of uniformity in cultivation, harvesting and technology application will go a long way in strengthening exports," he explains.
‘Criticism politically motivated’
He rejects the criticism that the Acts would only foster the corporate sectors as ‘politically engineered’. "The public are always bound to be associated with the ‘so-called corporate sector’ for all their needs from toothbrush to cars and even agriculture machinery. Attacking the reforms by deliberately playing the card of corporatisation is not fair," reasons Mr. Reddy.
