Nirmala Sitharaman Says Surprised By Farmers' Protests, PM Willing to Look at Modifications

In an exclusive interview with Network18 Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke about the farmers agitation, among several other issues, reiterating what the government has been saying for long — that it wants farmers to come to the table and talk about their points of concern.

When asked about the farmers’ agitation, Sitharaman said, “It is surprising that farmers doubt the intent of the government. MSP (Minimum Support Price) has been steadily going up since 2013-14.”

While several rounds of talks with the agitating farmers have failed to solve the impasse, she said the government wants them to point out specific things in the farm laws that concern them.

Also read: Union Budget 2021 Live Updates

Sitharaman said, “The government wants farmers to be at the table and talk it out with the Agriculture Minister. The PM (Narendra Modi) said he is will willing to look at the modifications farmers want. We want farmers to talk on points of concern. Want farmers to specifically highlight what aspects of farm laws are problematic.”

“Farmers are probably misguided. I want them to talk. I want them to talk on the points of concern. We are willing to concede,” she added.

Speaking on the Union Budget 2021, Modi earlier said it had focused on increasing the income of farmers. “More focus to increase income of farmers. All these decisions shows that village and farmers are in heart of this budget,” he had said.

Highlighting how the budget can help farmers, Modi had had said, “Farmers will be able to get loans easily. Provisions have been made to strengthen APMC markets with the help of Agriculture Infrastructure Fund.”

The farmers agitation has been continuing since December last year as they have demanded that the three farm laws be scrapped. While the government has said it would delay implementation, it has repeatedly reiterated it wants the farmers to have dialogue and express their concerns clause by clause.

Even on the day of the budget, farmers’ protests continued at the Ghazipur border at the Delhi-Ghaziabad route, with traffic being diverted at Akshardham for Noida. “Traffic will remain affected on Road no 56 from ISBT Anand Vihar to Ghazipur due to closing of border,” Delhi Traffic Police had said in a tweet on Monday morning.

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