Speed Post News Network
Patna : Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on November 30, 2020, said the Centre should allay fears among the protesting farmers that the new agriculture laws were aimed at doing away with the system of minimum support price or that they will adversely affect the procurement of produce.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a programme organised for the inauguration of a 12.27 km-long elevated road that that connects AIIMS, Patna, to Digha locality, along the banks of the Ganges, which is expected to immensely facilitate travel between the city’s southern and northern extremes. The elevated road has been constructed at a cost of Rs 1,289.25 crore.
Nitish also said, “As you all know, we had abolished these (APMC mandis) way back in 2006 and introduced a system for procurement through PACS (primary agriculture credit societies).”
“Procurement in Bihar, in fact, picked up only after that. Earlier, that wasn’t the case. I hope the Centre would explain to the farmers that procurement is not going to be hit and the system of MSPs won’t get scrapped,” Nitish said.
Nitish also sought to clear misconceptions over the farm legislation that allows sale of produce outside APMC mandis (markets) and pointed towards the state’s own experiment with the abolition of these.