'No plan to reintroduce repealed farm laws in future': Agri Min Tomar informs Rajya Sabha

Months after the repeal of farm laws that led to the massive farmers' protest at Delhi's borders, the Centre has now informed that it has no plans to reintroduce it. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar informed the Rajya Sabha on Friday that the Central government will not be bringing back the three repealed farm laws in future.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while speaking in an interview, had said that the laws were subsequently withdrawn in the "interests of the country".

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has now informed Rajya Sabha that the controversial farm laws will not be making a comeback. The Minister's assurance came in a written reply to a query regarding the government's stand on reintroducing the three repealed farm laws being imposed in the future. Tomar in his reply wrote, "No Sir".

PM Modi announced the withdrawal of the three farm laws on November 19 last year. Addressing the nation, the PM said that the laws were being rolled back as the government could not convince protesting farmers about the benefits of the agriculture sector reforms.

Responding to a question over the compensation to deceased farmers, Tomar said, "The subject of compensation etc to the families of the deceased farmers in the farmers' movement is with the concerned state government."

"As of February 8, 2022, more than 11.78 crore beneficiaries have been given the financial benefits of approximately Rs 1.82 lakh crore under the scheme through various instalments," the Minister said in his reply to a separate query on the PM-KISAN scheme.

"Out of them, 48.04 lakh were found to be ineligible. Therefore, effectively, there are approximately 11.30 crore eligible beneficiaries under the scheme," the Minister added.

Post the Budget Session, Tomar also informed the house that the value of India's agri-exports has been growing despite the pandemic. However, he informed that there is no proposal to provide additional income support under the PM-KISAN scheme.

Farm laws and the withdrawal 

Both houses of the Parliament had passed the three farm laws in September 2020. Soon, after the three laws - Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 were passed, the farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, started protesting at Delhi's borders in November 2020. Multiple rounds of talks were held between the Centre and the farmers but an impasse had prevailed.

However, on November 19, 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the Centre had decided to withdraw the three farm laws in the Winter Session of the Parliament. Following his announcement, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella organisation of the many agitating farmer unions on December 9, 2021, announced that the year-long protests will be called off. 

The laws were repealed after the requisite bills were passed during the winter session of Parliament which began on November 23, 2021. 

(With ANI inputs)

Image: PTI