Even as talks are going on with the farmers' leaders, the Modi government has unleashed a campaign to highlight the benefits of the new farm sector laws and is insisting that the minimum support price regime would remain untouched.
“If farmers get an option to sell their produce at better rates to anyone else along with the markets, how can it be called injustice,” Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
Prasad’s comments came after the meeting that the senior ministers, including Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, indicating that the government is in no mood to accede to the demands of farmers to repeal the farm laws.
However, the government is ready to amend certain sections of the laws to reassure the agitating farmers as is evident in the Agriculture Minister’s remarks after the fourth round of talks on Thursday.
While refusing to repeal the farm sector laws, the government has expressed willingness to discuss any aspect of the laws that farmers find could do them harm.
Tomar’s refrain has been that the laws nowhere mention that the minimum support price would be scrapped or that the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) markets would be dismantled, and farmers' apprehensions on these accounts are misplaced.
The Centre has also been highlighting success stories of farmers who have benefited from various initiatives in the agriculture sector, including the new laws that were introduced through an Ordinance in June and approved by Parliament in September.
The Centre has also released short films to highlight various aspects of the new laws, urging farmers not to fall prey to misinformation campaigns about the “historical agricultural reforms”.