FILE PHOTO: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the nation during Independence Day celebrations at the historic Red Fort in Delhi, India, Aug 15, 2020. NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi defended new laws aimed at lifting restrictions on farmers on Friday after protests by opposition parties, some farming bodies and even an ally of his Bharatiya Janata Party.
"The APMC Act forces every buyer to come to wholesale markets, which is designed to help farmers get competitive, assured and timely payments," Dharmendra Malik, a farm leader from Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, said.If big institutions start purchasing directly from farmers, state governments will lose out on the tax that these buyers have to pay at wholesale markets, Malik said.
Modi has said that the wholesale markets will operate as usual as the APMC Act has not been abolished and that farmers are simply being given an option to sell directly to buyers.