MASSIVE: PM Modi to address farmers in M.P amid ongoing protests against agri reforms

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually address the farmers of Madhya Pradesh at 2 pm via video conference on Friday. PM Modi's address will be telecast in around 23,000 villages, according to official sources. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, along with his other ministers, will also participate in the event from Raisen district, they said. 

PM Modi's address will focus on a relief package of Rs 1,600 crore to be credited directly to 35 lakh farmers hit by damage to their crop. CM Shivraj Chouhan has directed the officials to ensure that the maximum number of farmers participate in the event, sources said. The address assumes a larger significance given the farmer protests going on in Delhi at the moment, which has come to involve farmers of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, as well as some other states.

PM Modi reaches out to farmers

Amid the farmers' protesting against the Centre's farm laws, PM Modi has been very vocal in defending the laws and asserting that they beneficial for them. Earlier this week, in Gujarat, PM Modi described the new farm laws as historic and said his government was ready to remove any doubts about the legislations enacted in September. Without taking names, PM Modi, on a day-long visit to Gujarat on Tuesday, said Opposition parties who are supporting the protest, when in power, were in favour of similar reforms in the agriculture sector

To buttress his point, PM Modi gave the example of two sectors in Gujarat, his home state, which flourished without government intervention. He said dairy and fisheries sectors in the state grew exponentially without much intervention of the state government as the business is mainly handled by co-operative sector leaders and farmers.

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"In other parts of the country too, milk producers and the co-operative sector have created a successful supply chain. Similarly, governments do not have any significant control on the trade of fruits and vegetables. I am giving these examples because a conspiracy is afoot to confuse farmers who have gathered near Delhi at present," said the Prime Minister. He also accused the opposition of using "farmers shoulders to fire their guns."

SC to set up panel to resolve impasse

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Thursday acknowledged the right of farmers to non-violent protests and said it was thinking of setting up an "impartial and independent" panel of agriculture experts and farmer unions to resolve the impasse over three contentious farm laws. A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde said it would set up the committee which may include experts like P Sainath and representatives of the government and farmers' bodies to look for the resolution of the deadlock over the statutes. The top court is hearing a clutch of petitions seeking removal of farmers protesting at several roads along Delhi's borders.

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