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Farmers will only gain from new laws, can build brand India: PM Modi

New Delhi
December 26, 2020

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday struck a firm note on staying the course with farm reforms, listing out benefits to farmers through wider market access and better technology while giving them an opportunity to become exporters and establish �Brand India�.

�You can sell your produce wherever you get the right price. You can sell your produce at MSP at mandis or sell it to the merchant or export it or sell it in another state or sell it through the Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) or be part of the value chain of consumer products. You are getting so many rights � what is wrong with this ? You can sell your produce online all year," the PM said in an hour long address at an event where ?18,000 crore was disbursed under the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme to commemorate former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee�s birth anniversary.

Further, Modi Ji assured that the new laws protected farmers from private companies when they sign agreements to sell their produce. �Earlier the entire risk was of the farmer. Now the situation is totally in favor of the farmer. The entire risk is of the company and the return is of the farmer. In some states, contract farming was there, including Punjab. But earlier, if a farmer broke the contract, a penalty was put on him. We have removed the penalty in the new laws.�

�Farmers now have Legal Power�
The PM claimed that farmers now have �legal power� to get their money from the traders, which is why most of them are supporting them across the country. According to him, any entity entering into an agreement with a farmer would invest in better technology and expertise to improve yield.