After repeal of farm laws, Modi stresses on 'beej to bazaar' blueprint

Says committed to finding agri solutions, slams opposition for hurdles

Within a few hours of announcing the repeal of three contentious central farm laws, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said his government was working at all levels from “beej to bazaar” (seed to market) to benefit the country’s farmers.

Addressing a public meeting in Mahoba district of Uttar Pradesh, Modi, without explicitly referring to the repeal of laws, observed while his regime was focussed on finding solutions, the opposition was guided by the philosophy of creating hurdles.

“The previous dynastic governments were interested in making announcements of projects to keep the farmers perennially deprived. They had even kept small farmers and those engaged in animal husbandry from the benefits of Kisan Credit Card (KCC),” he claimed.

He said the record procurement of staple food grains over the last few years was the testimony of the pro-farmer agenda of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “We have raised the minimum support price (MSP) of mustard and ‘masoor’ (red lentil) to almost Rs 400 per quintal in the interests of farmers.”

Modi said the central government had facilitated the development of high yielding variety of seeds, which required less water to grow, thus making them suitable for dry regions too.

“We are also focussing on the cultivation of coarse food grains, oil seeds and cereal. We want to make the country self reliant in edible oils, which account for an annual import bill of Rs 80,000 crore. This amount should go to farmers instead, for which we have started a national mission,” he underlined.

Meanwhile, the PM inaugurated irrigation and water projects, including Arjun Sahayak Pariyojana totalling about Rs 3,240 crore for the Bundelkhand region, including Mahoba, Hamirpur and Banda districts. The projects will provide drinking water to an estimated 400,000 households and irrigate 50,000 hectares of agricultural land.

“Bundelkhand had to face the malady of water scarcity and mass exodus owing to the previous governments in Lucknow and New Delhi. They did everything possible to exploit the forest and natural resources in the region by giving a free hand to the mafia elements,” he alleged.

Modi drew a parallel between the arid Kutch region in Gujarat to Bundelkhand, saying he had first hand knowledge about the hardships faced by the people living in a water scarce zone.

“The foundation of these projects had been laid in Bundelkhand, but there was little progress owing to the commission and corruption prevalent during the previous regimes helmed by the dynasts. This ultimately deprived the people from getting water,” he added.

Later, the PM left for the Jhansi district in Bundelkhand to partake in a series of programmes pertaining to the UP Defence Corridor and others.