Farm reforms will bring ease of agricultural entrepreneurship for youngsters: Union minister

 Union minister Jitendra Singh on Wednesday said the farm reforms introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will bring ease of agricultural entrepreneurship for youngsters and encourage them to opt for a career as agricultural entrepreneurs.

Addressing an event, he said the enormous benefits of the new reforms will gradually unfold with each passing day and even youngsters from non-agricultural families will one day come forward as start-ups in the field of agriculture.

The new options and facilities made available through recently-passed legislations by Parliament are aimed at empowering young farmers with the latest tools of technology and high-tech methodologies, Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel, said.

The minister was addressing the "Yuva Sammelan", where he interacted with young farmers, young village heads and young activists from across the six districts falling in his Lok Sabha constituency of Udhampur-Kathua-Doda in Jammu and Kashmir, according to a statement issued by the personnel ministry.

Singh said the earlier arrangement, restricting the sale of crops through an Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) or mandis (wholesale markets), might have held relevance 50 years ago when the farmer was resourceless with a few means at his disposal and had to depend on others to carry his crop to the market.

Today, the entire scenario has changed and the young farmer is resourceful, well-connected, well-informed and always on the move, and therefore, we have no right to deprive him of the options available to other entrepreneurs trying their luck in other fields, the statement quoted the minister as saying.

The young farmers and panchayat representatives, who participated in the interaction, welcomed the new farm laws and described the same as a game-changer in the field of farming, the statement said. 

(IMAGE CREDITS:PTI)