Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said that the farmers’ protests are taking place on an account of misconceptions and dialogue should take place.
“The Central government wants to talk to farmers to dispel the fear of issues in the procurement mechanism. So I believe that dialogue should take place. The protests are happening on account of misconceptions,” said the Bihar CM said.
Farmers have been protesting at various places in Delhi and Haryana and have rejected the Central government’s offer to hold talks on 3 December saying that imposing conditions for starting a dialogue is an insult to them. Around 32 farmer organisations, mostly from Punjab, are protesting against the new farm laws.
Nitish Kumar also said the Central government should allay the protesting farmers’ fears over minimum support price (MSP), citing his own state’s experience of increased procurement since abolishing government markets or mandis in 2006.
“The Centre has proposed to hold talks with the agitating farmers. Once they sit across the table, it will become clear that fears over MSP are unfounded,” the Chief Minister told reporters here.
The CM said Bihar had abolished Agriculture Produces Market Committee (APMC) mandis way back in 2006 and introduced a system for procurement through primary agriculture credit societies. “Procurement in Bihar, in fact, picked up only after that…I hope the Centre would explain to the farmers that procurement is not going to be hit and that the system of MSPs won’t get scrapped,” said Mr Kumar, who was Union Agriculture Minister under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
The farmers are protesting against The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has said that the Central government is ready for talks with the farmers’ unions on 3 December.