Will not let corporate vultures eye Telangana farmers

Hyderabad: Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy stated that he would not allow "the corporate vultures to set their eyes on Telangana farmers." Addressing a farmers' rally at Achampet on Friday, he lashed out at the Centre for bringing out the new farm reforms "that only benefit the corporates".

While the State government is making laws beneficial to farmers, the Centre is bringing new farm reforms inflicting injustice on them, he said. Expressing fears that the multinational companies and the corporate entities would dispatch their agents to the villages under the new law, he said, the new acts will allow the corporates to take the agriculture sector into their hands in the disguise of contract farming. Earlier, it was individuals who have cheated the farmers. Now, it will be the turn of the corporates do the same, he opined. The Minister said that the availability of even onions, potato, salt and chillies in the market would be at the mercy of the corporates.

Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statements on the continuation of Minimum Support Price, Niranjan Reddy said, "It is a lie, as the continuation of MSP is there only on the paper, but not in the farm acts."

Informing that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has reviewed the old revenue act for about three years and replaced it with the new act, the Minister said along with the common people, even district collectors and judges were victims of the old revenue act. It was only after a thorough review that the CM had decided to bury the old rules and brought out the new act to resolve the land disputes. Besides, with the new act, the farmers need not tender their pattadar passbooks to avail loans from banks, he informed.

Stating that the people of the State have wholeheartedly welcomed the new revenue act, Excise Minister Srinivas Goud said the new act would end the clashes in villages where most of the incidents arise due to land disputes.