Farm laws not introduced overnight, was discussed extensively for 20-30 years: PM Modi

New Delhi: Addressing farmers virtually as part of Kisan Kalyan Sammelan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday sought to reassure them and reiterated that Minimum Support Price (MSP) will stay and there is no change.

He also said that the new farm reform laws were not brought in overnight and that they were discussed in detail by every government over two decades.

“Farm Laws have not been introduced overnight. Over the last 20-30 years, central government and state governments had detailed discussions on these reforms. Agriculture experts, economists and progressive farmers have been demanding reforms,” said PM Modi while addressing farmers at the ‘Kisan Kalyan’ event in Raisen through video conferencing.

“I request all political parties with folded hands, please keep all the credit. I am giving credit to all your old election manifestos. I just want ease in the life of farmers, I want their progress and want modernity in agriculture,” he added.

Today Rs 16 thousand crores are being transferred into the bank accounts of 35 lakh farmers of Madhya Pradesh, PM Modi stated.

The Prime Minister further said the modern system that India has created in the last five to six years is being discussed and appreciated all over the world today.

“The modern facility available to the farmers in the big countries of the world should be provided to the farmers of India also, it cannot be delayed any longer,” said PM Modi.

मध्य प्रदेश में किसान सम्मेलन को संबोधित करते हुए… https://t.co/Rli3e8o9xF

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 18, 2020

“In a rapidly changing global scenario, the farmer situation cannot be accepted as becoming helpless due to lack of facilities and modern methods. It is already too late. The things that should have been done 25-30 years ago are happening now,” he added.

In the last six years, the Centre has worked keeping in mind the needs of farmers, the Prime Minister stated.

“There is a lot of discussion about the new laws made for farmers in the country for the past several days. These agricultural reform laws did not come overnight. Every government has discussed it extensively for the last 20-22 years. At least all organizations have discussed these,” said PM Modi.

“Farmers of the country, farmers’ organizations, agricultural experts, agricultural economists, agricultural scientists, progressive farmers of our country have also been continuously demanding improvement in the agricultural sector,” he added.

In fact, the farmers of the country should ask for answers from those who have been writing about these reforms in their manifestos before, collecting the votes of the farmers, but did nothing. Just kept on avoiding these demands and the farmer of the country kept on waiting, the Prime Minister stated.

“If the old manifestos of all the political parties of the country are seen today, let their old statements be heard, the letters of those who were earlier handling the country’s agricultural system are seen, then the agricultural reforms that have taken place today are not different from them,” he added.

“Today, several farmers have been given a Kisan Credit Card. Earlier, they were not available to all farmers. But we changed rules to make Kisan Credit Card available to all farmers across the country,” said PM Modi.