'New farm laws won't affect MSP, mandis': Tomar counters 'misinformed' Pawar
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Sunday countered NCP President Sharad Pawar and said that the new farm laws will not affect the current MSP system and mandis. His response came a day after Pawar claimed that the Centre's agriculture laws will adversely impact the Minimum Support Price (MSP) procurement and weaken the 'Mandi' system.
In a series of tweets, Tomar said that new laws facilitate the promotion of additional choice channels for farmers with choice to sell their produce to anyone, anywhere with hassle-free movement in and outside the state to realize the competitive and better net price for their produce. He assured that this won't affect the current MSP system.
The minister said it was "dismaying" to see the veteran leader's tweets employing "a mix of ignorance and misinformation" on the agriculture reforms.
Further, Tomar reiterated that mandis will not be affected under the new ecosystem. "Instead, they will be more competitive and cost-effective in terms of services and infrastructure, and both the systems will synergistically co-exist for the common interest of farmers," he wrote.
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As he is such a veteran leader, I would like to believe that he was genuinely misinformed of the facts. Now that he has the right facts, I hope he will also change his stand and also explain the benefits to our farmers," the minister added.
Thousands of farmers have been protesting since late November at Delhi's borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, demanding a rollback of the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
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