Confederation of NGOs of Rural India supports of the new agricultural laws

NEW DELHI, 24 December 2020: The National Delegation of Confederation of NGOs of Rural India (CNRI) handed over the letter to Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar at Krishi Bhavan on Wednesday extending their support to the new agricultural farm laws.

Addressing a delegation of the Confederation of NGOs of Rural India (CNRI) Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said agriculture is an important sector for India. The government "is and will be" committed to strengthening the sector.

Mr. Binod Anand CNRI Secretary General presented the letters of support to the Agriculture Minister, of the 3,13,363 signatories, 12,895 are from Punjab and 1,27,653 from Haryana. There are 14 crore farmers in India out of which around 1.6 crore farmers are from Punjab and Haryana. Those sitting at Singhu border do not represent all farmers in the country.

Mr. Anand further added, “We went to several places in Mansa, Bathinda, Ludhiana, Taran Tarn, Amritsar district and contacted several farmers and BKU unions, took their views and learned many things.  Farmers in different places have different issues but are scared to come out in open. Despite that, they have given their support to us, around 12,895 are from Punjab.

CNRI and Sagyana- knowledge partner of CNRI – made a presentation to the Honorable Minister.

Some of the salient points raised by CNRI  and Sagyana were:

i)             Only 5.8 percent of the farmers in India benefit from MSP,

ii)            Even these 5.8 percent farmers sell merely 29% of their crops at MSP.

iii)           There is hardly any procurement at MSP of surplus rice in AP and TN.

iv)           Current system of MSP promotes environmentally unsustainable agricultural practices. Prime example of this is a large scale production of a water guzzling crop such as paddy in Punjab which has fast depleting ground water levels.

CNRI and Sagyana also recommended collecting primary data on the following topics to further understand farmers’ opinion and experience with the mechanisms proposed by the government through the three farm laws:

i)             A nationwide survey of farmers to estimate what percentage of their crops are sold at MSP in APMCs and what percentage is sold outside APMCs,

ii)            Opinion of farmers on key mechanisms and proposals of new farm laws to understand which ones they see themselves benefitting from, which ones they are indifferent to and which ones they are apprehensive about and why.

These three agricultural laws are very good and commendable steps for both farmers and agriculture, which should be praised and if we cannot do this then we should at least investigate them and start discussion in our village in Chaupal. Conversation should start on important topics such as Incorporation of latest methods in farming, Use of best quality pesticides and a mass campaign to stop the availability and use of fake pesticides and other agriculture and seeds.

Union Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Chaudhary, along with CNRI General Secretary Binod Anand, Dr. Mohan Kanda (IAS ) retd. standing committee Chairman, Dr. Praveen Tripathi Chairman SDG Committee CNRI, and other national officials were present on the occasion.

About Confederation of NGOs of Rural India (CNRI)

CNRI is an Apex body of Non-Governmental organisations of rural India set up with specific objective of strengthening, co-ordinating and facilitating their work at the grass root level for integrated development of the Rural India. Sagyana is a research organisation which focusses on gathering data and building knowledge for the benefit of society and citizens of India