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Chennai, Sep 19 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Saturday supported the three Bills on agriculture, saying he knew about farming and farmers' welfare "unlike DMK President MK Stalin".
Strongly supporting the three farm Bills brought by the Centre even while different opposition parties are opposing these, Palaniswami said: "Unlike the Leader of the Opposition (Stalin), I know about farming and farmers' welfare."
Palaniswami asserted that Tamil Nadu farmers will not be impacted by the three proposed laws that had many beneficial provisions for them.
Palaniswami said that The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill 2020, The Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020 passed in the Lok Sabha are "beneficial" for the Tamil Nadu farmers.
"The provisions of the proposed law will not affect the farmers of Tamil Nadu. Hence, the state government did not oppose them. The situation in Punjab is different and is not comparable," he said.
He said that procurement under the public distribution system would continue even after these Bills become law.
Palaniswami also said the proposed laws did not mandate farmers to have Permanent Account Numbers (PAN).
Explaining the provisions of the Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, Palaniswami said already contract farming in coco, sugarcane and poultry is present in the state.
He said that the proposed law will enable proper implementation of contract farming.
"The law that encourages contract farming does not have any provision to compel or affect farmers."
The Chief Minister said that farmers will get contracted price for their produce and if the market price was higher than the contracted price, there was a provision in the law for the farmers' benefit.
The central government's law will only reinforce a similar law brought by the state government in 2019, Palaniswami said.
Stalin, who is opposing the Bills due to political reasons, did not oppose the state law, he claimed.
Contract farming will also ensure that food processing industries get assured quality raw material, which will lead to increased employment opportunities in rural areas.
On the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, Palaniswami said that the proposed law provides for freedom to the farmers to sell their produce anywhere and with competition they can only profit.
That apart, there is the possibility of the existing infrastructure getting upgraded.
"Under the proposed law, other than the market fee levied at the trade area no other charges are permitted in Tamil Nadu whereas it is not the case in Punjab. Hence, the proposed law may impact the revenues of states like Punjab."
The Chief Minister claimed that the proposed law will not impact the Minimum Support Price (MSP) regime.
Palaniswami said that the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 enabled the streamlining of the stockholding limit when prices of horticultural or agricultural produce increased by 100 and 50 per cent respectively.
"As a result, consumers and the farmers will benefit. There is no truth in the contention that corporates will resort to hoarding," he said.
--IANS
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