India / No one ready to say what's 'black' in 'black laws': Tomar on farm laws' critics

NEW DELHI: Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday said those opposing the new farm laws are not ready to say what is black in what they have described as "black laws".

"The farm laws have been dubbed 'black'. But when I asked in every meeting held with farmers what was 'black' about these statutes so that I can fix these, but nobody gave any answer," Tomar said in Rajya Sabha.

"If you are protesting against the law, then discussion should be held on its provisions. Unfortunately, this is not happening," the minister said while participating in the Motion of Thanks on the President's address to Parliament.

The Union agriculture minister reiterated that the government is ready for an open discussion.

"I have told all the leaders of the parties as well as farmers that the government is ready for an open discussion. We have been talking to them. We have given them a proposal, we will talk with them again after their proposal comes," Tomar said.

'Protests limited to one state; farmers being instigated'

The Union minister further said the farmers are being instigated and that the protests against the three laws are "limited to only one state."

In an apparent reference to a booklet released by the Congress recently, the minister slammed the party saying, "The world knows water is required for farming. Only Congress can do farming using blood. BJP cannot do this)".

'Govt's offer to amend farm laws doesn't mean flaws in laws'

Putting up a strong defence on the farm laws, the minister said the government has shown the proper respect to farmers and has engaged in talks with them but the government's readiness for amendment "shouldn't be interpreted" as if there are faults in the farm laws.

"We haven't uttered a single word defaming farmers," said Tomar on the allegations that the government and its supporters have been defaming the farmers.

'Farmers can withdraw from contract at any point'

Earlier today, Tomar said that as per the Centre's three new farm laws, the farmers can terminate their contract at any time and can withdraw from their agreement without any penalty.

Tomar said that contract farming in Punjab has provisions that may land a farmer in jail with a fine of upto Rs 5 lakh, whereas the central government's new farm legislation gives complete liberty to a farmer.

The government, he said, is committed to welfare of farmers and to the continuation of the mandi system of procurement of crops on minimum support price (MSP) based mechanism. The laws give farmers alternatives to sell their produce outside 'mandis', and unlike the state government notified market places, such sale would not attract any tax.

The agri minister said that an agriculture infrastructure fund worth Rs 1 lakh crore has been provided under the Atmanirbhar package and that the centre has tried to ensure that requisite investment reaches the agriculture sector.

Farmers have been staging a sit-in protest at Delhi's borders since late November last year, alleging that the new farms laws will hurt their interests.

11 rounds of talks have taken place between farm unions and the government, led by agriculture minister Narendra Tomar, over the new farm laws.

While the government has offered to suspend the implementation of farm laws for 18 months, the farmers have stayed firm on their demand for full repeal of the three laws.