Govt to explain farm laws to farmers across India in local languages:Report

The Narendra Modi government is reaching out to farmers across the country, with Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar's eight-page letter to protestors being translated into various vernacular languages.

Sources stated that the letter which was written primarily for Hindi speaking states will now be circulated among the farming community across the country in an effort to garner their support for the Central farm laws and explain the issues in detail in a language familiar to them.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to get the Union Agriculture Minister's letter, detailing the benefits of the new farm laws, in major vernacular languages of the country.

"As many don't read or write Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states, demand has come from states to translate it in English first, and later to the vernacular languages spoken in various states respectively," a source said.

To ensure that the government's intentions and facts regarding the new agriculture laws reach every farmer across the country, even in non-Hindi speaking states like West Bengal, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka or Kerala, Tomar's letter is being translated into vernacular languages.

"It's an attempt to let farmers know that the laws are in their favour unlike being propagated by the Left parties and Congress," added the source.

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had earlier written an open letter to the farmers on three farm laws cautioning the protestors against being used by opposition parties.

The Minister while explaining the farm laws passed by Parliament this year has also tried to bust the 'myths' being propagated around the new laws.

In the second part of the letter, the Minister had appealed to the farming community not fall for anti-national forces trying to destabilise the country by using the agitation. The Minister had said that the same people are hiding behind farmers and directly or indirectly promoting unrest for their political interests.

Farmers have been protesting on different borders of the national capital since November 26 against the three newly enacted farm laws-Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.