Swatantra Bharat Party President and Maharashtra based farmer organization Shetkari Sanghatana leader Anil Ghanwat in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi has suggested technological and economic reforms for farmers.
Ghanwat, who was also a member of SC appointed committee on farm laws, urged the PM to lift the moratorium on GM (genetically modified) crop approvals by February 16, 2022.
Ghanwat said that India's farmers can feed a growing India, even as farmers' incomes grow rapidly, through biotechnology. He added that without high-yielding varieties of seeds that led to the Green Revolution, India could not have fed its growing population. The country needs the slogan: "Biotechnology to feed India, Natural farming to starve India," he said.
The letter further said that on 19 July 2019 in response to a question in the Lok Sabha, the BJP government said in the Parliament that there is no scientific evidence to prove that GM crops are unsafe. Despite this, they continue to block GM crops in India.
Further, in the letter, Ghanwat repeated his earlier demand for the government to establish a committee with representation of all views to prepare a White Paper on agriculture policy "that considers costs and benefits of options, consults widely and recommends a way forward."
He said that the Swatantra Bharat Party is working on a discussion paper on Agriculture Policy. He said that if the Prime Minister doesn't commission a White Paper to progress reforms, he may need to bring farmers to Delhi to demand reforms.
He further urged the Modi government to stop arbitrary interference in the markets, as illustrated by SEBI's decision of 2021 to bar futures and options contracts chana, mustard., wheat, soybean, oil, soya De Oiled Cake, moong, and others.
"Futures and options markets play a very important role in fetching better prices for farmers. Such arbitrary actions create uncertainty for farmers and investors and amount to a confiscation of property rights," the letter read.
Ghanwat also released an open letter he wrote, on behalf of several farmer organizations to Ajay Tyagi, Chairman of Securities and Exchange Board of India. The letter points out the grievous harm caused to farmers by SEBI's recent actions and requested that prohibitions on futures and options trading of agriculture items be reversed immediately.
