New Delhi: With farmers on streets in several parts of the country against three agriculture legislations which President Ram Nath Kovind signed on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his monthly ‘Mann Ki Baat’ broadcast said that a large number of peasants have benefitted since fruits and vegetables were brought out of the APMC Act in some States a few years ago and they will have now the same freedom for other in selling other grains as well.

According to a gazette notification, the President gave assent to three bills: The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020.

The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 aims to permit the sale of agricultural produce outside the mandis regulated by the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees (APMC) constituted by different state legislations. The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, provides for contract farming.

The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020 deregulates the production, supply, distribution of food items like cereals, pulses, potatoes, and onion and edible oilseeds. The President's assent to these bills comes amid the Opposition criticising the manner in which they were passed in Parliament.

The Prime Minister said: “Had the country followed the essence of Mahatma Gandhi's economic philosophy, there would not have been any need for the 'Atma Nirbhar Bharat' campaign as India would have become self-reliant much earlier.”

 Lauding farmers for strengthening the country's agriculture sector, he said the farm sector is playing a major role in efforts to build a self-reliant India and showed its prowess during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prime Minister Modi cited the example of a Haryana farmer as to how he and other farmers benefited a lot after fruits and vegetables were in 2014 brought out of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee Act, allowing them to sell their produce outside government-controlled mandis.

The Prime Minister made no direct mention of the farm bills brought by his government and passed by Parliament or of the opposition-led protests against them. Critics have called these measures 'anti-farmers.' /BI/