Hyderabad/New Delhi: The Congress in Telangana is all set to undertake protests agains the Centre for passing three bills in Parliament, pertaining to agriculture, in spite of stern protests in different parts of the country. Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president and Member of Parliament (MP) from the Nalgonda constituency N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the bills passed by the BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party) government would only benefit corporates like Adanis and Ambanis and not the farmers.
Addressing a press conference, along with TPCC Working President & MP A. Revanth Reddy in the Parliament premises on Monday, Uttam Kumar strongly condemned the BJP-run Centre for “selling away the interest of farmers to help a few corporates”. He announced that the Congress party, in collaboration with the farmers’ organisations, would organise agitations across Telangana on September 25 against the “anti-farmer” policies of the cenreal government.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the BJP government got the Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 passed in the Lok Sabha based on its numerical strength in the House. He said the Bills were passed without taking into consideration the objections raised by the Congress and other opposition parties. He said the central government behaved in an undemocratic manner when it passed the bills in Rajya Sabha.
He said all rules were flouted and set precedents were not followed while passing the bills in the Rajya Sabha. The TPCC president also said that the bills have “snatched away the protection granted” to the farming community by the constitution and now the private institutions have been given license to exploit the farmers as per their will. He said there was no mention of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) to farmers and no provision has been made to regulate contract farming.
The Nalgonda MP said the system of market yards was also abolished in Bihar in 2006. Consequently, he said farmers of Bihar were unable to sell their produce at MSP. He said while farmers of Telangana and other States were selling paddy for Rs. 1815 per quintal, Bihar farmers were forced to sell it for just Rs. 1300 per quintal. “Similarly, they are getting 30% less amount for maize. With the BJP Govt passing the new Bills, farmers across the country would face the same plight as the ones in Bihar,” Uttam Kumar added.