'To remove all those handicaps,' PM Modi quotes Manmohan Singh on farm reforms

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'To remove all those handicaps,' PM Modi quotes Manmohan Singh on farm reforms

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Rajya Sabha address on Monday quoted former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, defending the farm reforms, as the latter was sitting in the House.

"I am quoting former PM Manmohan Singh ji as the opposition may not listen to me but may listen to what Manmohan Singh ji has said. 'There are other rigidities because of marketing regime set up in the 1930s which prevent our farmers from selling their produce where they get the highest rate of return. It is our intention to remove all those handicaps which come in the way of India realising its vast potential as one large common market,' Manmohan Singh has said. But now there is clear U-turn of the Congress," PM Modi said.

On a lighter vein, he added that Congress should take pride in considering that what Manmohan Singh had said long ago, Modi has to do now.

"Farmers have their democratic rights to protest. But I am again saying this through this House that no roads are closed. Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar is holding consultations with the farmers," PM Modi said.

Talking about minimum support price system, PM Modi said, "The system will always be there in practice, as it is and as it has been in the past. We should not spread misinformation about this."

"The country needs to move forward, not backward," PM Modi said, once again batting for the reforms. He said that the issues of small farmers have been raised by all governments, irrespective of whether something could be done on the ground or not. In this regard, he mentioned NCP leader Sharad Pawar and said that Pawar supported the reforms but was not on board on how the laws were passed.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news