Will bring lakh farmers to Delhi in support of reforms: SC panel member
Darpan News Desk IANS, 23 Nov, 2021 12:45 PM
New Delhi, Nov 23 (IANS) Member of the Supreme Court appointed committee on farm laws, Anil Ghanwat, on Tuesday wrote to the apex court to release their committee's report and also said he will mobilise a lakh farmers, who support farm reforms, to Delhi.
Ghanwat's Committee has submitted a report in connection with the three contentious farm laws, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced to repeal on November 19.
The Shetkari Sanghatana leader from Maharashtra reached Delhi on Monday and held a meeting with another member of the panel, agriculture economist, Ashok Gulati.
Ghanwat told media, "I have written a letter to the Supreme Court again today demanding it to release our report. Now that the three laws are going to be repealed, this report can play an educational role."
Whether or not the Committee will bring out that report in public by itself will be decided later, he said.
The Supreme Court had appointed the three-member committee - apart from Ghanawat and Gulati, the third member is P.K. Joshi - in January this year while staying the three farm laws. The Committee had submitted the report in March after a wide multi-stakeholder consultation.
However, since then neither did the apex court make use of any of its recommendations nor was the report made public. Ghanawat had, in September, written to the then Chief Justice of India, to release the report so that its recommendations can be used by the government for resolving the agitation of the farmers that had turned widespread with even violence disturbing at some places. This is Ghanwat's second letter after his first in September to the apex court.
Explaining that he and his team never wanted to pitch farmers against farmers and therefore never took to streets till date, Ghanwat said, however, now that the PM has announced to repeal the laws, we will take to the streets if needed.
"But we don't want to disturb Delhi. We will bring at least a lakh genuinely worried farmers, who support reforms in agriculture," Ghanwat said.
Commenting on the Samyukt Kisan Morcha's demand to legalise Minimum Support Price (MSP) along with cancelling the three laws, Ghanwat said, "MSP is not the answer, it can never be. Farmers need to diversify. Look at progressive farmers in Maharashtra - farmers are doing dairy, fisheries, poultry and orchards."
Technology freedom and trade freedom should help the farmers as against the current practices of price regulation by the government by way of import or export ban, he said.
Sanjeev Sabhlok, an advisor, said, "We need an Agriculture Policy, we need a white paper on the issue with wider consultation."
The journalists body also sought issuance of guidelines on surveillance on Indian citizens and safeguarding them from electronic surveillance, spying and hacking.
In a written reply to an unstarred question in the Lower House, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai, said that three cases have been registered by the Delhi Police in connection with the violent attacks on students and some teachers on the JNU campus last year.
The 79-year-old Governor's actions "led to outrage" at the Cabinet meeting, presided over by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray with Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and ministers of all three allies - Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress - present.
Incessant rains last week coupled with huge volumes of water from the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) have led to flood-like situation in seven districts of West Bengal, leaving at least 8 dead and displacing over 3 lakh people from their homes in the last four days.
The government is implementing market information system where the prices of vegetables are collected through Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) mandis and disseminated for its use by the farmers through Agmarknet portal, mobile applications etc. for better price realisation, he said.
