What farm bills offer to India farmers, group of former civil servants explains

A group comprising 33 retired All India and Civil Services officers issued a statement in favour of the farm bill. Following is the full statement of the group in favour of the farm’s bills:

"The farm bills passed by the parliament mark the watershed in the liberation of India’s farming community from the shackles of exploitative practices that slow peddled their progress. The Government of India has introduced a definite game-changer in the life of the Indian farmer through the far-sighted legislations. Major impediments which retarded the seamless growth of the farming fraternity of India are given the go by through the passage of these monumental Acts."

"What do the farm bills offer to the deprived farmers of the rural areas of India?

1. The Minimum Support Price mechanism shall continue in favour of the farmers.
2. Farmers can sell their products wherever they want without any interstate or intrastate restrictions.
3. Farmers are freed from the clutches of the exploitation of the middlemen.
4. Farmers can enter into contracts with any potential, buyer, or exporter at his choice.
5. Restrictions on the storage of agricultural produce prescribed in the Essential Commodities Act, will be relaxed.

Despite categorical assurances from the Union Agriculture Minister, vehemently reiterated by the Prime Minister, that minimum support price mechanism (MSP) shall remain as ever before, it is objectionable to incite the farmers and create disaffection in their mind by wrongly suggesting that their interests are being bartered in favour of multinational concerns. In fact, wherever the farmers are suffering, they are suffering because of inadequate local marketing facilities leading to their exploitation by middlemen."

The statement further says - "If India is developed as one market for them, and if private parties purchase their products, the farmers have nothing to lose. This historic legislation, coupled with the various economic development packages announced by the government in the recent past, will definitely pave the way for the upward rise of the farming community, bringing in phenomenal progress to them. The bills create a fair and free ecosystem for the farmers.

It also ignites in the farmers a sense of entrepreneurial freedom without the risk of trader exploitation. It is pertinent to note that the emancipation of the farmers from the middlemen and empowering them with the freedom to choose where and how to sell their produce was enshrined in the manifestos of certain political forces that oppose it now. We have reasons to apprehend the disinformation which certain sections within our society are trying to spread in the country."

The statement says, "We have recent instances of untruths and distortions being paraded before the public with a hugely negative impact on the morale of the minorities, students, and now the farmers. The general public has every reason to suspect attempts by well-known vested interests to destabilize the country and create disaffection among the minorities, students, and farmers.

We strongly support the well-meaning efforts of the government in bringing succor to the farming community who has fed the nation over the years, converting India from a food deficit to a food surplus economy. Our group condemns the surreptitious practices of vested interest for misleading and misguiding the farmers and discrediting the well-intentioned national initiatives."
The signatories to the statement include former Finance Secretary S. Narayan, former Banking Secretary D.K. Mittal, former Defence Secretary G. Mohan Kumar, former Petroleum Secretary Saurabh Chandra, former Civil Aviation Secretary K.N. Srivastava, besides others.