New Delhi, Dec 12: Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured farmers on Saturday that reforms in the agrarian sector were aimed at helping them as thousands of farmers continued protests against three new laws to overhaul procurement and sale of produce.
"Recent farm reforms will give farmers new markets, access to technology and help bring investments in agriculture that will benefit farmers," he said at the annual meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in New Delhi.
Thousands of farmers from Punjab and Haryana are camping at various Delhi border points, protesting against the new farm laws, which they claim will dismantle the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system, leaving them at the "mercy" of big corporate houses.
"We had seen walls between the agriculture sector and other areas associated with it -- be it agriculture infrastructure, food processing, storage or cold chain. All walls and obstacles are being removed now," the Prime Minister said in his address.
The agitating farmers' concern is that these laws, aimed at reforming the sector, will eliminate the MSP and mandis that ensure their earning. But the government says the MSP system will continue and the new laws will give farmers more options to sell their produce.
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