Days after he announced he would meet farmers every week, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday held his first dialogue with a delegation of 50 farmers and farm union leaders in New Delhi.
During the meeting with Chouhan, the delegation talked about at least four issues including the prices of their produce, issues related to Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, losses caused by stray animals, and the government decisions at the time of harvesting.
The meeting was held at the Pusa complex in New Delhi, and it was attended by farmers and farm union leaders from Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Delhi. Senior officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare were also present during the meeting.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Chouhan said, “I have said earlier also that agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy and farmers are its soul, and serving farmers is like worshipping God for us.”
Referring to his announcement of weekly meetings with farmers, Chouhan said, “Last time, when I was talking about the achievements of 100 days, I had announced that I will start the process of meeting farmers or farmers’ organisations every Tuesday because many times we do not understand the problems while sitting in the office. It is our duty to talk directly with those who have problems, discuss them and if any issue comes up, resolve it.”
“Today, I have talked to different farmers’ organisations, met about 50 farmer leaders, and have received many suggestions from them. Some are related to the price of crops, some are about crop insurance scheme, and some are about the loss due to stray animals. Many suggestions have come about what decisions should be taken when the farmer’s crop arrives. I was sitting with a team of officers. We will work them out and after working out we will try to do whatever is possible, discussions have been held with farmer organisations in a cordial atmosphere,” Chouhan said.
Chouhan added that farmers praised many decisions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government. These included raising of import duty on palm oil to 27.5 per cent, removing of minimum export price on Basmati, reducing of export duty on onions from 40 per cent to 20 per cent, and procurement of tur (arhar), urad, and masoor from farmers, he said, adding that farmers appreciated these decisions.
“The dialogue that we have started has been liked by everyone. This dialogue will continue. We will talk to our farmers and try to solve their problems,” Chouhan said.
Chouhan’s initiative to reach out to farmers comes at a time when farmer leaders and farmers from Punjab and Haryana had held protests against the Centre over the three contentious farm laws which were eventually withdrawn. Some of the farmers have been still protesting on the Haryana-Punjab border for the past several months.
