Attempt to destroy mandis: Punjab on Centre’s draft agri policy

“The policies made by the Centre are often against Punjab. I don’t know why the thought process is anti-Punjab; the country belongs to everyone… desh ral mil ke sab da hunda hai,” said Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian.

Talking to The Tribune after chairing a meeting to discuss the National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing, Khuddian minced no words to say, “At the outset, this appears to be a policy aimed at destroying the decades-old mandi system in Punjab. But if you destroy the economy of one state, you can’t make other states stronger.”

To convene meet of farmers, experts

• Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian said he would convene a meeting of all farmer unions, agriculture experts and economists on Thursday to discuss the draft policy before sending an adequate response to the Centre
• He said he would reach out to his Haryana counterpart to jointly oppose the draft policy

Earlier today, Khuddian held a meeting with Special Chief Secretary (Revenue and Agriculture) Anurag Verma, Chairman of the Punjab State Farmers and Farm Workers Commission Sukhpal Singh and Secretary of the Punjab Mandi Board Ramvir to discuss the draft policy sent by the Centre for deliberations.

“We have already sent a letter to the chairman of the draft committee to give us three weeks to minutely examine the policy. After all, Punjab’s economy is dependent on agriculture and any changes will have adverse ramifications,” he said.

Khuddian said since the draft policy would also not be in the interests of Haryana, which had a well-established crop marketing system, he would reach out to the Haryana Agriculture Minister to jointly oppose this draft policy. “It appears to be an attempt to bring back the clauses of the now-suspended three farm laws that led to the year-long farmers’ protest,” he said.

The main objections of the state government and the farmer unions to the draft policy are its bid to allow the entry of private players to build state-of-the-art silos for the storage of foodgrains and declaring these as open market yards where these can directly purchase crops from farmers.

It is proposed that private players can directly enter into contracts with farmers to buy their produce. It also talks of a uniform crop insurance policy, which Punjab has so far refused to implement.

“We have the best marketing infrastructure in the country. Why would we want this to be dismantled? The Centre has already refused to give us our due Rural Development Fund and now wants to do away with the market fee. We can’t sit here and let injustice be inflicted on Punjab. We will present our argument against the contentious provisions,” he said.