Newly passed agri laws to help augment farmers’ earnings — Arunachal CM

Itanagar, Oct. 5 (PTI): Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Monday came out in support of the newly passed farm laws, saying the legislations will help farmers get better price for their produce.

The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill have become Acts after President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent.

According to the Agriculture and Horticulture secretary, it will have zero impact in the northeastern state as it does away with mandis, where farmers sell their produce through middlemen, as mandi system is non-existent in the state.

The Act aims to permit the sale of agricultural produce outside the mandis, regulated by the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees (APMC) constituted by different state legislations.

The secretary said that earlier the APMC used to collect two per cent cess from farmers for transporting their produce.

The chief minister also assured farmers of successful implementation of all centrally sponsored schemes (CSS) in the state.

Taking stock of the implementation status of the Centre’s welfare programmes for cultivators, Khandu said that the state will provide financial support for the schemes, whenever required.

A delay in releasing state’s share of funds should be avoided as agri and allied sectors are seasonal in nature, an official communiqu said.

After being informed by officials that the state’s share was yet to be released, Khandu asked Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to convene a meeting of the departments concerned with the finance and planning department so that all pending cases are resolved at one go.

“We cannot wait for lengthy procedures to release the state’s share for centrally sponsored schemes in agri-horti and allied sectors.

“It should not happen that by the time it is released and schemes are ready to be implemented, the season for the same is over,” he said.