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PM Modi Speech On Farmers Protest

26 December, 2020 - By Bhanu

Farmers' Protest LIVE Updates: The 'Delhi Chalo' farmers' protest at border points of New Delhi has entered the 30th day today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi released an instalment of the financial benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN). At the push of a button, PM Modi enabled transfer of more than Rs 18,000 crore to over 9 crore beneficiary farmer families, according

 to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). PM Modi interacted with and addressed farmers from six states as part of the event. Thousands of farmers, especially from Punjab and Haryana, are staging a sit-in protest along Delhi borders. The protest started on November 26. The farmers are demanding a complete rollback of the new farm reform laws and a guarantee on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system being retained. Multiple rounds of talks between the Centre and the farmers’ union leaders have ended in a stalemate. Protesting farmers fear that the new laws will dismantle the MSP system and corporatise farming.

A month into enormous farmer protests that have rattled his administration, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held virtual talks with Indian farmers, asking them to explain how the government’s agricultural policies have benefitted them.

Thousands of farmers from several Indian states have been camped on the outskirts of New Delhi for weeks, blocking highways to demand that Modi’s government repeal farm laws passed in September that they say threaten their livelihoods. But Modi’s virtual public address on Friday was not focused on the laws under contention.

Instead, he spoke via video conferencing to seven farmers from different states, asking them how they had benefitted from “PM Kisan” – a cash transfer scheme his government launched in February 2019, under which farmers get minimum income support. The government says the three laws approved by parliament in September will enable farmers to market their produce and boost production through private investment.

“Through these agricultural reforms, we have given better options to the farmers,” Modi said in his live address.

He lauded the laws as much-needed reforms that would benefit farmers, as he accused opposition parties of spreading fears among farmers that they will be exploited by corporations. “Those making big speeches today did nothing for farmers when they were in power,” Modi said. Modi’s outreach came a day after India’s main opposition party called for a special parliamentary session to withdraw the new laws. “The prime minister wants to help two, three business people” by introducing the farm laws, said Rahul Gandhi, a senior leader from the opposition Congress party, on Thursday.

He led a party delegation to President Ram Nath Kovind, seeking his intervention for the repeal of the laws.

Last week, Manoj Yadav, director-general of police in the northern Haryana state, told Al Jazeera at least 25 farmers have died since November 26 when the protests began. Haryana, along with Punjab, is an epicentre of the rallies. Often called “annadatta,” or “providers”, Indian farmers have long been seen as the heart and soul of a country where nearly 60 percent of the population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods. But farmers’ economic clout has diminished over the last three decades. Once accounting for a third of India’s gross domestic product, they now account for only 15 percent of the country’s $2.9 trillion economy.

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