(Announces SAD stands with farmers, will never allow tinkering with MSP or assured marketing of food grains)
(Says he is committed to take assurance in parliament on both MSP and assured marketing)
(Takes on CM and Jakhar, says they are misleading Punjabis and discloses they amended the State APMC Act in 2017 to include the very provisions they were protesting against)
THE EDITOR BUREAU-Chandigarh โ Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal today offered to lead a delegation of farmer organizations to seek any clarification needed by them on the Farming Produce Trade and Commerce Ordinance 2020 from union agricultural minister N S Tomar, even as he made a categorical announcement that the SAD would always stand with the farmers and never allow tinkering with MSP or assured marketing of food grains.
In a statement here, the SAD President said โnothing is more important to us than the welfare of farmers. The SAD has always championed the cause of farmers. MSP and assured marketing are a question of life and death for the beleaguered peasantry and we understand this. We are ready to make any sacrifice needed to ensure they continue as assured by the central government. We have a policy of zero tolerance on this issueโ.
Mr Sukhbir Badal said though Agriculture minister N S Tomar had already assured that MSP was in force today and would remain in force in the future also, he was ready to take a delegation of farmer organizations to the minister to seek any clarification if needed on this issue. โI am also committed to take an assurance in parliament that both MSP and assured marketing continue unhinderedโ.
Mr Badal also took on both chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh and Pradesh Congress President Sunil Jakhar for trying to mislead Punjabis on this sensitive issue, saying they had amended the State APMC Act in 2017 to include the very provisions they were protesting against. The SAD President asked the chief minister and the PCC President to tell Punjabis why they had amended the APMC Act to allow creation of private markets, direct marketing, electronic agricultural marketing and single unified license for entire State in 2017. โNot only this, the Congress government also participated in the consultative process which led to the framing of the Agriculture Ordinance. It is unfortunate that after doing all this both of them are trying to deceive farmers by indulging in mischievous propaganda which has been launched for the sole purpose of diverting attention from the utter failures of the Congress governmentโ.
The SAD President also asked the PCC President to stop spreading disinformation on the Agriculture Ordinance. He said even today multi nationals and flour mills did not pay any tax to purchase food grains. โWhen multi-nationals can do trade today why are we resorting to scare tactics by claiming they will capture the entire market when the Union agriculture minister has already clarified that the entire government procurement will take place from Mandis. This means there will not be any difference in revenue collection of around Rs 4,000 croreโ. He also asked Sunil Jakhar if he would resign from his post if the entire paddy crop in Punjab was procured as per MSP after three months.
The SAD President also disclosed that the new APMC Act provided adequate, inbuilt and foolproof guarantees for the continuation of msp and assured marketing regime on a long-term basis. โWe have ensured that this regime will continue in its present form, in addition to opening up new possibilities and creating a new platform to increase competition for the farmers produceโ, he added.
