Telangana has strongly opposed the three bills related to agriculture that are mooted by the Centre, saying that the bills would do a lot of injustice to the farming community in the country. The bills will help traders of agricultural commodities and corporates rather than farmers.
Asking its MPs to vote against the Bill in Rajya Sabha tooth and nail, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao said that though these bills claim to help the farmers in selling his produce anywhere in the country, they would actually help the traders to buy the produce from anywhere.
“The bills are going to do injustice to farmers. They will adversely impact them,” he said in a statement on Saturday.
The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and a couple of agri reform bills, will be introduced in Rajya Sabha on Sunday.
“The bills will help the corporates lobby to spread their presence across the country and give unbridled freedom to private traders in buying agri produce,” he said.
“Can a small farmer afford to carry his small quantities of produce in markets far off. These bills are nothing but sugar coated pills. They should be opposed at all costs,” he asked.
Corn imports
“There is a 50 per cent import duty on the imports of the corn. The Central Government has decided to reduce it by 15 per cent and wanted to import one crore tonnes of corn,” he pointed out.
“About 70-75 lakh tonnes of corn has been procured in the country. For whose benefit the Government has reduced the import duty? When the country is going through an economic crisis how could they take such a decision,” he asked.
“If we reduce the import duty on corn, what will happen to our own corn producers,” he wondered.
“Since the Bills introduced will cause huge losses to agriculture sector and are against the interests of farmers in the country, they should be opposed and voted against in the Rajya Sabha,” the Chief Minster told the MPs.