‘Definite gamechanger in life of farmer’: 32 former bureaucrats support Centre’s farm bills

New Delhi: Even as protests are being organized over recently approved farm bills, a group of 32 former bureaucrats have issued a statement supporting the Centre’s gamechanger move and slamming the vested interests for inciting and misguiding the farmers.

In a written statement, the former IAS officers said, “The government of India has introduced a definite game-changer in the life of the Indian farmer through the far-sighted legislations. Major impediments that retarded the seamless growth of the farming fraternity of India are given the go-by through the passage of these monumental acts”.

“The bills create a fair and free ecosystem for the farmers. It also ignites in the farmers a sense of entrepreneurial freedom without the risk of trader exploitation,” the statement said.

The support from retired civil servants comes at a time when many political parties including the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Congress, DMK, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Trinamool Congress, among others, are vehemently protesting the bills.

“Despite categorical assurance from the Union Agriculture Minister that the minimum support price (MSP) mechanism shall remain as before, it is objectionable to incite the farmers and create disaffection in their minds by wrongly suggesting that their interests are being bartered in favour of multinational concerns,” the statement by former IAS officers said.

“The farmers have nothing to lose if India is developed as one market and private parties purchase their products,” the bureaucrats said.

Slamming those opposing the recently concluded farm bills, they said, “our group condemns the surreptitious practices of vested interest for misleading and misguiding the farmers and discrediting the well-intentioned national initiatives.”