Agriculture Minister dubs Sharad Pawar’s tweets on farm laws as ‘misinformation’

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, unimpressed by Sharad Pawar’s take on the farm laws, on Sunday, said the Pawar-tweets were a mix of “ignorance and misinformation” about the legislation. He expressed hope that once Pawar understands the “facts” of the laws, he will change his stance.

Pawar on Saturday said the new agriculture laws of the Union government will adversely impact the Minimum Support Price (MSP) procurement and weaken the `Mandi’ system. The tweets came at a time when the Centre and the 41 protesting farmers’ unions are trying to break the deadlock.

“Pawar himself tried hard to bring the same agriculture reforms earlier. Since he speaks with some experience and expertise on the issue, it was dismaying to see his tweets employ a mix of ignorance and misinformation on the agriculture reforms. Let me take this opportunity to present some facts,” Tomar tweeted.

“The apprehension has no basis. Under the EC Act, the central government can intervene in case of extraordinary circumstances including war, famine, extraordinary price rise and natural calamities of grave nature,” Tomar said.

The agriculture minister said: “As he (Pawar)is such a veteran leader, I would like to believe that he was genuinely misinformed of the facts. Now that he has the right facts, I hope he will also change his stand and also explain the benefits to our farmers.”

To date, the government has offered some concessions including keeping the new farm laws on hold for 1-1.5 years and the Supreme Court has set up a panel to look into the matter.