NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday defended India’s biggest agricultural reforms in decades, but offered to “humbly” hold further talks with farmers protesting against laws they fear will erode. income.
Tens of thousands of farmers have blocked roads leading to New Delhi in the past three weeks demanding the repeal of laws that give them the option to sell directly to private companies.
The government says the change is needed to increase farm profitability and improve storage and other infrastructure.
But farmers, mainly from the northern agricultural states of Punjab and Haryana, fear that private companies will eventually dictate terms and the government will stop buying grain from them such as wheat and rice at a guaranteed minimum price.
In online remarks to farmers in the country’s largest wheat-producing state, Madhya Pradesh, Modi said there should be no cause for concern and reiterated the government’s position that farmers will be provided with a price as before.
“Modern facilities available to farmers of large nations should be available to those in India as well, they cannot be postponed,” he said.
“However, if anyone has any concerns in the interest of farmers in the country and to address their concerns, we are very humble ready to discuss each issue.”
His comments came as farmers, many over the age of sixty or more, dared the harsh winter in northern India to camp outdoors on the borders of Delhi with their tractors and trailers parked bumper to bumper.
After a series of previous meetings with Modi’s ministers, protesters said nothing more than an official repeal of the three laws would be enough to change their position.
Rakesh Tikait, a leader of farmers, said after Modi’s speech that the prime minister is trying to privatize agriculture for the benefit of companies and not theirs.
(Reporting by Krishna N. Das, edited by William Maclean)