Hue and cry over farm laws raised by professional protesters: Jitendra Singh

Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday alleged that all the hue and cry over the new farm laws is being raised by "professional protesters" who have nothing to do with farming.

The Lok Sabha member from Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur constituency interacted with the farmers living in the border areas of Kathua district and discussed with them the new agricultural and farm reforms.

"The earlier system of middlemen taking charge of crop and arranging for its sale might have been relevant till about two decades ago but today's farmer is young, educated, well-informed and well-connected and therefore capable of exercising the option of choosing the buyers for himself," he was quoted as saying in a statement.

Allaying apprehensions that big business houses will take over farming and the farmers' land will be forcibly taken over, Singh said the new laws have ensured all the safeguards.

"He alleged that all the hue and cry is being raised by professional protesters who have nothing to do with the farming," the statement issued by the Personnel Ministry said.

"Today’s farmer is actually an agricultural technocrat who has the capacity to decide sitting on a computer which will be the most profitable crop to sow in the coming season,” he said.

The farmers have the facility to online discover to whom best to sell their product across the country, the minister said. Singh said that "with the kind of means and opportunities available to the young agricultural technocrats of today, we have no right to deprive them of the avenues available to other technocrats and entrepreneurs".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has corrected a huge anomaly in the farming sector of India, he added. The interaction was arranged by BJP's Kathua unit led by its district president Raghunandan Singh.

(Photo Credit: PTI) 

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