Ruchika Khanna
Chandigarh, 19 December
During a meeting held with the state government on Thursday, the farmers’ unions of Punjab have demanded the state government to reject the national policy framework on agricultural marketing. Farmer unions have argued that this policy is detrimental to the interests of the state and its agro-based economy. It is noteworthy that in this regard, the representatives of 15 farmers’ unions of Punjab held a three-hour long meeting with Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian here today.
During the meeting, farmer leaders expressed their concerns that the policy encourages privatization in the grain procurement business, which they believe could lead to monopolistic practices in agriculture. The agriculture minister assured the unions that an all-party meeting would be convened soon to discuss the policy before the state submits its response to the Centre.
Although the state government was originally required to send its response by December 10, the government has sought three more weeks from the central government to thoroughly scrutinize the policy. The Punjab government is expected to discuss this policy during the winter session of the Legislative Assembly to be held in the second week of January 2025.
Joginder Singh Ugrahan, president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan), criticized the policy, suggesting that it could be a covert attempt to reintroduce controversial provisions of the three farm laws, which the 2020-21 Kisan Andolan has called for. (Farmer Protest) was withdrawn by the Central Government. He said that farmers’ unions will strongly oppose this policy.
Chairman of Punjab Farmers and Farm Workers Commission (Punjab Farmers and Farm Workers Commission) Dr. Dr. Sukhpal Singh, Research Director of PAU Ludhiana. Ajmer Singh Dhatt and officials of Agriculture Department also joined.
