Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar on Tuesday called for a people’s movement against the new farm laws which jeopardised the nation’s food security and surrendered “seeds, soil and markets” to corporate monopolies.
The Kerala government intended to move the Supreme Court against the laws and pursue an alternative policy of strengthening the farm sector with the help of agriculture cooperatives, Mr. Sunil Kumar said in a statement released here.
Objections ignored
The Bills were introduced in Parliament with utter disregard to federal principles and they were passed by ignoring the objections raised by Opposition parties. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government had misled the farmers with its assertion that the laws liberated and empowered the Indian farmer, he said.
‘Hollow claims’
The farmers had swept aside the “hollow claims” made by the Centre and launched agitations against the “black laws.”
“Farmers, farmer organisations, political parties and people who have faith in democracy should unite to open a new front in the fight against the Central policies,” he said.
The new laws had been introduced at a time when growth in the agriculture sector in the country was on the decline. The growth rate had declined from 6.8% in 2016-17 to 5.9% in 2017-18 and 2.4% in 2018-19. In 2019 alone, 10,281 farmers committed suicide in the country, as per officials statistics, Mr. Sunil Kumar said.
While the Centre claimed that contract farming would help enhance productivity and reduce agricultural costs, studies in various States had proven otherwise, he said. The experience of farmers in Bihar proved the hollowness of the claim that the new laws would bring in profits for farmers by enabling them to sell their produce anywhere they chose, he said.
Claims on MSP
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that the minimum support price (MSP) would stay was far from the truth, Mr. Sunil Kumar said. The amendment to the Essential Commodities Act would render it irrelevant in stages. Agriculture would become a loss-making enterprise.
The Agriculture Minister also stated Kerala’s intention to join hands with like-minded States to oppose the laws.
