"If govt ready to make amendments, doesn't mean there is problem in laws"
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in Rajya Sabha put up a strong defence of the new farm laws, he said that the government’s offer to make amendments in the farm laws does not mean that the farm laws had any flaws.
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He countered the opposition's claim that farmers across the country are agitated over the three new laws, he said that those in just one state are being misinformed and instigated.
He said that the Government is committed to welfare of farmers and to the continuation of the mandi system of procurement of crops on minimum support price (MSP) based mechanism.
He said, "The laws give farmers alternatives to sell their produce outside ‘mandis’, and unlike the state government notified market places, such sale would not attract any tax."
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Adding, “The agitation should have been against the tax levied (by state government) on sale made in mandis but strangely the protests are against freeing of the system from such taxes,”
"Farmers are being misled that others would occupy their land if these laws are implemented. Let me know if there is a single provision in Contract Farming law which allows any trader to snatch away the land of any farmer," he stated.
Tomar also said that the farmer unions and the opposition have not been able to point out any mistake in the three laws.
