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Tag: Narendra Singh Tomar

  • Sad we could not convince farmers, says agri minister Narendra Singh Tomar

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Welcoming the Prime Minister’s decision to repeal the farm laws, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday expressed regret that the government was unsuccessful in convincing some farmers groups about the benefits of these laws.

    Tomar said the government wanted to remove hurdles faced by the farming community by bringing in the three new farm laws. These laws would have benefited farmers, Tomar said. He added that the PM’s intention was to bring a “revolutionary change” in the lives of farmers. “I am sad that we were not successful in convincing some farmers about the benefit of these laws.”

    Tomar said the PM tried to bring changes in the farm sector through these laws. But the situation became such that some farmers found problems in these laws. “We tried to convince them but were not successful,” said Tomar. 

    The minister spoke of the government’s commitment to agriculture and farmer welfare in the last seven years and highlighted various schemes launched since 2014. The government has decided to fix the minimum support price (MSP) at least 1.5 times the cost of production and procurement has doubled, he said.

    To support small farmers, the government has launched the PM-KISAN scheme under which `1.62 lakh crore has been disbursed to farmers, he said. He added that crop loan has been doubled in the last seven years of BJP rule.

  • Narendra Singh Tomar praises Uttar Pradesh government for bringing radical changes in farm sector

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday praised the Uttar Pradesh government for making efforts to bring radical changes in the agriculture sector.

    Good work is also being done in other states, including Haryana and Uttarakhand, in the field of agriculture, he said, addressing the 12th Agriculture Leadership Conference organised by Agriculture Today Group.

    “Due to the efforts of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi, Uttar Pradesh has achieved success. There has been a radical change in the field of agriculture, which is benefiting crores of farmers,” an official statement quoted Tomar as saying at the event.

    Uttar Pradesh received the best state award in 2021 for agriculture from the group. Haryana bagged the best state award for innovation, while Uttarakhand got the best state award for horticulture.

    To boost the agriculture sector, Tomar said the central government has taken several concrete measures like new farm reforms and setting up of Rs 1 lakh crore-Agriculture Infrastructure Fund to increase the income of farmers and their standard of living.

    The country’s economy is continuously getting a boost from the agriculture sector. Farmers and scientists have ensured India’s food security even in difficult times of the pandemic, proving the relevance of the agriculture sector, he added.

    Agriculture Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Uttarakhand highlighted the steps taken to boost the farm sector in their respective states. Union Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary, Niti Aayog member Ramesh Chand were among others present at the event.

  • Singhu lynching: Narendra Singh Tomar’s photo with Nihang ‘leader’ triggers row, Punjab minister sees ‘conspiracy’

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Tuesday called the lynching of a labourer at the Singhu border a possible conspiracy to defame the farmers’ agitation, citing a purported photograph of Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar with a Nihang ‘leader’.

    Former state Congress chief Sunil Jakhar also joined the controversy triggered by the appearance of the photograph on social media, alleging that Central agencies could be involved in last week’s murder at a farmers’ protest site near the Delhi-Haryana border.

    The group photo includes Tomar and a man in blue robes of the Sikh order of the Nihangs.

    The Union minister has in the past met farmer protest leaders to negotiate a solution to the deadlock over agri-marketing laws.

    Without mentioning any name, Randhawa claimed that the same Nihang leader was ‘defending’ the main accused in the killing.

    The Nihang group had accused the victim of desecrating a Sikh holy book.

    “In view of the recent disclosures about one of the Nihang leaders having already been in touch with the Government of India, Minister for Agriculture N S Tomar in particular, the lynching incident has now taken an entirely different turn,” Randhawa alleged in a statement.

    “There appeared to be a deep-rooted conspiracy to defame the farmers’ stir,” the minister claimed.

    He said Lakhbir Singh, the Dalit victim who belonged to Cheema Kalan village in Tarn Taran district, was very poor.

    “We need to find out who lured him to the Singhu border and who paid for his travel as he could not even afford his meals,” the Punjab minister said.

    The deputy CM said he has instructed the local administration to find out under what circumstances the man was taken from his home to the Singhu border.

    “In view of the recent photographic evidence available, the Nihang leader will also need to explain in what capacity he had met Union Agriculture Minister N S Tomar and whether he was mandated to do so by the farmers’ organisations spearheading the campaign against the three black farm laws.”

    Given the importance of the place where the “Nihang leader” was camping, “it was mandatory on his part to keep the farmers’ unions informed and updated about his meetings with the Union minister,” Randhawa said.

    “This has raised genuine doubts and suspicion among the minds of people and these need to be cleared,” he added.

    The minister said the Punjab government will do everything to get to the root of the “conspiracy” and expose and punish the culprits.

    Former state Congress chief Sunil Jakhar alleged that there could be a role of the “agencies” in the murder at the Singhu border.

    But he did not elaborate on this.

    “There is certainly something more than what meets the eye,” he said in a statement.

    “The BJP has long been trying to tarnish the secular farmers’ struggle as a Sikh movement to term protesting Sikhs as militants,” Jakhar alleged, adding that the Punjabis are the country’s sword arm.

    He demanded a thorough investigation into events leading to the death.

    Lakhbir Singh was brutally killed last week and his body strung to a barricade at the farmers’ protest site with a hand chopped off and multiple wounds caused by sharp-edged weapons.

    Sarabjit Singh, who was among the Nihangs arrested for the murder, claimed that he had “punished” the man for “desecrating” a Sikh holy book.

    A large numbers of farmers mostly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at Delhi’s border for nearly a year, demanding the repeal of the three farm laws enacted at the Centre.

  • Gujarat BJP legislators to meet; decision on Vijay Rupani’s successor likely today

    By PTI

    GANDHINAGAR: The suspense over who will succed Vijay Rupani as Gujarat chief minister will be over after a meeting of BJP legislators here later on Sunday, party sources said.

    Central observer Narendra Singh Tomar, who will attend the meeting, met state BJP chief C R Paatil on Sunday morning.

    BJP has appointed Union ministers Tomar and Prahlad Joshi as observers for the legislature party meeting to elect a new chief minister.

    ​ALSO READ | BJP axes CM Vijay Rupani a year ahead of Gujarat election

    “We have come here to hold further discussions on the issue (new chief minister). We will discuss it with state BJP leaders,” Tomar said at the airport.

    “I will hold consultations with Gujarat leaders, then the central leadership will take a decision,” said Joshi.

    BJP general secretary Tarun Chaag has also reached Ahmedabad.

    There is talk that Praful Khoda Patel, administrator of the union territories of Lakshadweep and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, is among the top contenders.

    Also reportedly being considered are Parshottam Rupala, the Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying and Mansukh Mandaviya, the Union Health Minister.

    BJP’s Central observer @JoshiPralhad said that the legislative party meeting will be held today to discuss the Gujarat chief minister name.@NewIndianXpress @Sunday_Standard
    — Sudhir Suryawanshi (@ss_suryawanshi) September 12, 2021
    Both of them also belong to the Patel or Patidar community.

    The names of Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel and state agriculture minister RC Faldu, both from the Patel community, are also doing the rounds.

    Rupani (65) on Saturday resigned from the post, his sudden announcement coming over a year before the state goes to polls.

    It is not clear what prompted the development in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state where elections to the 182-member Assembly are due in December 2022.

    Rupani (65), the fourth chief minister to demit office in BJP-ruled states during the coronavirus pandemic, was sworn in as chief minister — his second stint as CM – in December 2017.

    “I have resigned as chief minister of Gujarat,” Rupani told reporters after meeting Governor Acharya Devvrat and submitting his resignation letter.

    “I was allowed to serve the state for five years. I have contributed to the development of the state. I will further do whatever is asked by my party,” said Rupani, who completed five years in office on August 7 this year.

    He first became the chief minister on August 7, 2016, following the resignation of incumbent Anandiben Patel, and continued in the office after the BJP’s victory in the 2017 Assembly elections.

  • Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar faces massive protests in flood-hit MP

    Express News Service

    BHOPAL: Union Agriculture Minister and local BJP MP Narendra Singh Tomar on Saturday faced  massive protests by locals in the flood-hit Sheopur town of Madhya Pradesh.

    Alleging mismanagement of the unprecedented flood situation in Amral and Seep rivers, which marooned the entire Sheopur town recently, the angry locals tried to block the passage of the union minister’s motorcade, threw black flags, broom, and mud on his motorcade.

    The angry protestors clapped in unison not to welcome the Union minister-cum-local MP, but to protest the mismanagement of the situation by the local administration.

    The residents, which mostly included traders and families in the Ganesh Bazar area (the main market of Sheopur town)  have suffered huge losses owing to inundating of their shops with floodwater.

    Not only did the protestors take to the streets while the Union minister’s motorcade was passing through the main market of Sheopur town, but also tried to push and shove Tomar, while he was walking through crowded streets.

    ALSO READ | 23 rain-related deaths in Madhya Pradesh, many missing

    The police had a tough time in cordoning the union minister to safety, sources present in Sheopur town told The New Indian Express.

    Importantly, angry residents had staged similar protests in Sheopur town on Thursday, alleging mismanagement of floods.

    Tomar is the BJP from the Morena Lok Sabha constituency, which comprises the Sheopur district also. He had visited Sheopur on Saturday to take stock of the situation post floods. As many as six deaths have been reported in Sheopur district (which neighbours Rajasthan) due to floods and rain-related mishaps since July 28. Its direct road connection with the Baran and Sawai Madhopur districts of Rajasthan has been cut off.

    As per sources in Sheopur,  prior to recent floods, both Seep and Amral rivers had flooded way back in 1971.

    Meanwhile, the official toll in the flood and rain-related mishaps in eight districts of the Gwalior-Chambal region has risen to 24. With rains stopping and rivers in the region receding, the situation is slowly improving in all the districts. So far 1250 villages in eight districts of the region have been affected by rains and floods and around 9,000 people rescued from the worst-hit areas. 

  • BJP misleading people over Centre’s aid to flood-hit people in Maharashtra: NCP

    It means that of the entire relief amount of Rs 3,701 crore, the Union government has sanctioned Rs 701 crore only.

  • Govt aims to create national farmers database using digital land records: Narendra Singh Tomar

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI:  The government is aiming to create a federated National Farmers Database using digitised land records that will help to offer proactive and personalised services to farmers, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar informed Parliament on Tuesday.

    The agriculture ministry has already commenced the work of creating ‘Agristack’ — a digital ecosystem of agriculture — in the country that should help the government in effective planning towards increasing the income of farmers in particular and improving the efficiency of the agriculture sector as a whole.

    “As a first step in this direction, the government has already initiated building federated farmers’ database that would serve as the core of the envisaged Agristack,” Tomar said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

    No private sector companies are involved as far as the building of the Agristack is concerned.

    However, leading Technology/Agri-tech/startup companies were identified and invited to collaborate with the central government to develop proof of concepts (PoCs) based on small portions of data from the federated Farmers’ database for certain identified areas (district/village), he added.

    The MoUs — purely on a pro bono basis with selected companies — are being signed for one year to develop PoCs.

    PoCs will help in understanding solutions that can be built using available data and some of them, if found beneficial to the farmers will be scaled up at the national level.

    Further, Tomar said the government would ensure the data privacy of the farmers’ personal details.

    “As of now, the federated farmers’ database is being built by taking the publicly available data existing with the ministry and in various data silos in government and linking them with the digitised land records,” he said.

    The agriculture ministry in consultation with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is in the process of bringing out a data policy for the agriculture sector, he noted.

    Asserting that the aim of the proposed initiative is to increase farmers’ income by leveraging the available data and developing solutions based on the data, the minister said if states have already built such a system, then, the endeavour will be to make use of the same and build on top of that.

    “Yes, the Government aims to create a federated National Farmers Database and the digitized land records will be used as data attributes for creating this database,” Tomar said.

    The proposed database will ensure input costs are reduced, ease of farming is ensured, quality is improved and farmers get better prices for their farm produce, he added.

    To bring dynamism to the farmer’s database, the minister said the linkage with the digital land record management system is essential.

    The database is envisaged to facilitate online single sign-on facilities for universal access and usher in proactive and personalised services to farmers such as direct benefit transfer, soil and plant health advisories, weather advisories, irrigation facilities, seamless credit and insurance facilities, seeds, fertilisers, pesticide-related information nearby logistic facilities, market access information, peer to peer lending of farm equipment etc.

    Asked if landless farmers will be included in the proposed database, Tomar said, “At present, farmers’ database will include the farmers, who are legal owners of the agricultural land as per the government database and as endorsed by the state government”.

    In future, the possibility of including others may be considered in consultation with state governments and other stakeholders, he added.

    Asked if the database will be used for choosing beneficiaries of the government schemes, Tomar said once developed, a federated national farmer database will help to deliver personalised and proactive services to farmers.

    “Government can make use of the database for targeted service delivery with higher efficiency and in a focussed and time-bound manner,” he added.

  • Centre invites farmers to talks, APMCs to get interest bonus

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  The Union Cabinet in its meeting on Thursday sought to calm the nerves of agitating farmers by allowing inclusion of Agriculture Produce Marketing Cooperatives (APMCs) in the interest subvention scheme unveiled in the Union Budget of Rs one lakh crore for creation of agriculture infrastructure. 

    Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar reiterated his appeal to renew talks with the farmer unions, saying that they have benefited in the past seven years of the various initiatives taken by the government for agriculture, including direct payments of the MSP (Minimum Support Prices) procurement of food grains.

    Tomar, briefing the Cabinet decision, said the interest subvention scheme has been amended to allow the projects for the strengthening of the APMCs within the ambit of the scheme. He also said that the individuals, Farmers Producers Organisations (FPOs) and others can taken up 25 projects, but in different locations and claim interest subventions for Rs 2 crore loan for each.

    He also said the state cooperatives can take up more than 25 projects under the scheme, which was unveiled in the Union Budget this year. Also, Tomar informed that the Cabinet has amended the Coconut Board to crate the post of a CEO and chairman who will be from a farming background, while the scope of the entity will be expanded to explore opportunities abroad. 

  • Centre ready to talk to protesting farmers, but not on repeal of three agri laws: Narendra Singh Tomar

    By PTI
    GWALIOR: Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday asserted that the three central agriculture laws would bring revolutionary changes in the lives of farmers, and made it clear that the government was ready to hold talks with the protesting cultivators, except on the demand of the repeal of these laws.

    He also claimed that most parts of the country, most of the unions as well as farmers support these laws.

    His statement comes a day after BJP workers and anti-farm law protesters clashed in Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, in which some people from both sides suffered injuries.

    “We have told the Kisan Union that we are ready to talk on any of their proposal, barring the repeal (of these laws),” Tomar told reporters after inaugurating a hostel at an agriculture university here.

    ALSO READ | Farmers’ adamancy on repeal of farm laws won’t serve any purpose: Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar

    He was replying to question that the agitators were firm on their demand of repealing the three laws.

    “The farms laws are going to bring in revolutionary changes in the lives of farmers. They were brought in after a 30-year exercise by agriculture experts,” he said.

    The state government and the Centre had taken efforts in this direction, and as a result, these farm reforms bills came into existence under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he added.

    “Most parts of the country, most of the unions, most of the farmers are in support of the bills. The government had held a series of talks with those opposing them,” he said.

    However, Tomar did not respond to a question over an allegation that BJP workers reached the protest site carrying swords.

    Farmers have been camping at Delhi’s borders since November 2020 with their demands that the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 be rolled back and a new law made to guarantee minimum support price for crops.

  • Seven months of farmers’ protests: Leaders in no mood to relent, say will end stir if agri laws repealed

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: As their agitation completed seven months, farmer leaders on Saturday stuck to their demands, saying they will call off their protest if the government repeals the three farm laws even as Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar appealed to them to end their stir and offered to resume talks.

    Yudhvir Singh, general secretary of Bhartiya Kisan Union, an umbrella body of farm unions that is spearheading the agitation, said farmers will end the protest once the agri laws are repealed.

    “The government does talk about minimum support price. The government always talk about the amendment in the laws. However, we want them to repeal the laws. We also want them to introduce a law on MSP,” Singh said.

    Shiv Kumar Kakka, national president of the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh, said they will not hold talks under any precondition.

    “We have lost over 600 farmers in last seven months and they (government) are telling us to end this agitation. There will be no dialogue under any preconditions.”

    “If the government repeals the three farm laws and makes a new one with the guarantee of minimum support price (MSP), we will thank them and head back to our respective places,” Kakka said.

    The government and farmer unions have held 11 rounds of talks so far, the last being on January 22, to break the deadlock and end the farmers’ protest.

    Talks have not resumed following widespread violence during a tractor rally by protesting farmers on January 26.

    Jamhuri Kisan Sabha general secretary Kulwant Singh said they also want to go back home as soon as possible.

    “The government is asking us to end the protest as they are ready for talks. We have already asked the government several times to repeal the three laws. If they do so, we will head back home as soon as possible from the borders. We do not like doing this and staying out of home for months,” Singh said.

    The Supreme Court had put on hold the implementation of the three laws till further orders and has set up a committee to find solutions.

    The committee has submitted its report.

    “I want to convey through your (media) that farmers should end their agitation. Many are in favour of these new laws across the country. Still, some farmers have any issue with provisions of the laws, Government of India is ready to listen and discuss with them,” Tomar tweeted on Saturday.

    He said the government held 11 rounds of consultations with protesting farmer unions.

    The government has increased the minimum support price (MSP) and is procuring more quantity at MSP.

    On Saturday, hundreds of farmers from interiors of Uttar Pradesh, many of them on tractors, reached Ghazipur on Delhi’s borders to mark the completion of seven months of the protest.

    Led by Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait, a group of protesters submitted a memorandum of their demands at the office of DCP Northeast Delhi after a virtual meeting with Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal.

    The farmers had given a call for a protest march from Civil Lines metro station to the Raj Bhawan, a senior police officer said, adding that the Delhi Police tightened security across borders of the national capital in view of the anticipated march.

    Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at Delhi’s borders for seven months now in protest the three laws that they say will end state procurement of crops at MSP.

    Farmers’ protest had started on November 26 last year and has now completed seven months notwithstanding the coronavirus pandemic.