Bihar CM Nitish Kumar hails passage of farm bills, criticises opposition

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Monday hailed the passage of the two farm bills in Parliament and said that the two pieces of legislation are in the interest of farmers.

He congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the passage of the Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 in Parliamet and condemned the opposition MPs "misbehaviour" with Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh.

Singh, the newly elected Rajya Sabha deputy chairman, was presiding over Rajya Sabha when the two bills were passed on Sunday by voice vote amid unprecedented unruly scenes by protesting opposition members demanding that the proposed legislations be referred to a House panel for greater scrutiny.

The two bills have already been passed by the Lok Sabha.

The opposition action was "against parliamentary traditions and dignity," said Kumar, who is also the JD(U) president.

Condemning the "misbehaviour" of the opposition MPs, he said that whatever happened in Rajya Sabha yesterday was absolutely wrong and against parliamentary traditions and dignity. It is a highly condemnable incident.

He said the farm bills are in the interest of farmers and villages across the country as they will raise the farmers' income.

Stating that the NDA government in Bihar headed by him had repealed the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act in Bihar way back in 2006, he said "The same thing is being implemented today across the country. It will give the farmers the right to sell their produce wherever they want as there will be no restrictions on them. The farmers will be benefitted from contract farming as they will get market rate for their produce".

The prime minister had made it clear that there will be no change in the system of procuring grains from farmers at minium support price, Kumar said.

The NDA government in Bihar had started procuring grains from farmers through Primary Agriculture Cooperative Society (PACS) when it came to power in the year 2005 on a large scale. When the APMC Act was repealed the next year, opposition RJD had created a furore and had even taken out a protest march to the Raj Bhavan, the chief minister said.

He took a swipe at the opposition in the state, where assembly elections are due in October-November, specially the RJD and its heir apparent Tejaswhi Prasad Yadav.

Without naming him, Kumar said there are people who will speak on every issue. But there is no impact of their speech on the people who see the work being done by the central and state governments.

The chief minister was speaking at a function held on the occasion of laying of foundation stones for nine national highways including three mega bridges worth Rs 14,260 crore in Bihar.

The prime minister laid the foundation stones for these projects through video-conferencing.

The projects include three mega four lane bridges - a parallel bridge to Mahatma Gandhi bridge, parallel bridge to Vikramshila Setu in Bhagalpur and bridge over river Kosi.

Modi also launched the project for providing high speed internet through optical fibre in all the 45,945 villages of the state. Internet connectivity will be provided to all the villages of the state by March 2021 at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore, he said.

Kumar thanked Modi for laying the foundation stone for some schemes which were not originally part of prime ministers Rs 1.25 lakh crore package and expressed happiness over the inclusion of a parallel bridge at Bhagalpur. 

(Photo: PTI)