Akhilesh Yadav accuses Centre of pushing farm laws agenda in the garb of PM-KISAN

On Thursday, SP president Akhilesh Yadav accused the Centre of trying to insult farmers by offering them a small amount under the aegis of the PM-KISAN scheme. His comment comes a day ahead of the release of the next installment of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to him, this was an attempt by the Union government to push the agenda of agrarian laws that would cause the farmers a loss running into thousands and lakhs of rupees. 

With 100% funding from the Central government, PM-KISAN became operational from December 1, 2018. Under the aegis of PM-KISAN, Rs.6000 will be directly transferred to the bank accounts of small and marginal farmer families having combined land ownership of up to two hectares in three installments. Via video conferencing, the PM shall enable the transfer of over Rs.18,000 crore to more than 9 crore beneficiary farmer families on Friday. On this occasion, PM Modi will also have a discussion with farmers from 6 states wherein they shall share their experiences about the scheme and other initiatives taken by the Centre for their benefit. 

Read: Supportive Farmer Groups From Uttar Pradesh Meet Narendra Tomar, Urge Govt Not To Repeal Acts

Read: 2020 Highlights: Janta Curfew To Galwan Clash & Bihar Polls To Farmer Stir, Here's A Recap

Opposition to farm laws

On December 9, the farmer leaders had unanimously rejected the Centre's proposal for making amendments and called for an escalation in the protests until The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 are repealed. Subsequently, PM Modi, his Cabinet colleagues, as well as top BJP leaders, have addressed farmers across the country to address their concerns. Moreover, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar gave 8 concrete assurances to farmers via an open letter.

On December 20, the Centre asked the 40 protesting unions to provide details of all remaining concerns and fix a convenient date for the resumption of talks. Earlier in the day, the farmers' unions sent a letter to the Union government and made it clear that they were not willing to budge from their demand for the repeal of the agrarian laws. Addressing the media, they called upon the Centre to put forth a concrete proposal to re-start talks. Meanwhile, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Ghulam Nabi Azad submitted a list of 2 crore signatures against the farm laws to President Ram Nath Kovind earlier in the day. 

Read: Tomar Releases List Of Farmer Unions Backing Farm Laws, Over 3 Lakh Signatures Submitted