Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao today said that the farming-related bills introduced by the Centre in Parliament would do a lot of injustices to the farm sector in the country.
The CM instructed TRS Parliamentary Party Leader Dr K Keshava Rao to oppose the bills tooth and nail in Parliament as the bills would only benefit corporates and adversely impact the farmers.
The CM explained the need to oppose the bills when they were introduced in the Rajya Sabha.
"For public consumption, it is being stated in the bills that the farmers can sell their produce anywhere in the country. But is it possible for farmers to take their small produce to faraway areas bearing the heavy transport charges and sell it at good prices? The reality is that the bills will enable traders to go anywhere in the country to buy the produce. The corporate lobby will spread to all corners of the country and smoothen the way for private traders. These bills are nothing but sugar-coated poison. They should be opposed at all costs," the CM said.
"As on date, there is a 50% import duty on corn. The union government has decided to reduce it by 15% and import one crore tonnes of corn. Already 70 to 75 lakh tonnes of corn have been purchased. For whose benefit was the import duty reduced? When the country is going through an economic crisis how did the union government take such a decision? Corn is cultivated in a big way in the country. If we reduce the import duty on corn, what will happen to our own corn producers?" the CM asked.
Since the bills introduced would cause huge losses to the agriculture sector and were against the interests of the farmers in the country, they should be opposed and voted against in the Rajya Sabha, the CM told his MPs.