Defending government’s agri laws, Tomar said the new reform facilitate promotion of additional choice channel for farmers with choice to sell their produce to anyone, anywhere.
“Sharad Pawar ji is a veteran politician and a former Union Agriculture Minister, who is also considered well-versed with the issues & solutions relating to Agriculture. He has himself tried hard to bring the same agriculture reforms earlier,” Tomar said in a series of tweets.
Sharad Pawar ji is a veteran politician and a former Union Agriculture Minister, who is also considered well-versed… https://t.co/NlmYgEBIr3
— Narendra Singh Tomar (@nstomar) 1612090604000
“Under new ecosystem, mandis are not affected. 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,” Tomar said.
Tomar further said it was “dismaying” to see the former Union agriculture minister’s tweets employing “a mix of ignorance and misinformation” on the agriculture reforms.
Since he speaks with some experience and expertise on the issue, it was dismaying to see his tweets employ a mix of… https://t.co/XneWtyg8ri
— Narendra Singh Tomar (@nstomar) 1612090658000
NCP president Sharad Pawar on Saturday had said the new agriculture laws of the government will adversely impact the Minimum Support Price (MSP) procurement and weaken the `Mandi’ system.
“The new farm laws curtail the powers of Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs or `Mandis’ in common parlance) regarding collection of levy and fees from private traders, dispute resolution, agri-trade licensing and regulation of e-trading,” Pawar had said.
“During my tenure, draft APMC rules 2007 were framed for setting up special markets, thereby providing alternative platforms for farmers to market their commodities and utmost care was also taken to strengthen the existing mandi system,” he added.
“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 & also explain the benefits to our farmers,” Tomar said.
Thousands of farmers have been protesting since late November at Delhi’s borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, demanding a rollback of the farm laws.