New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday strongly defended the three contentious agri laws that have sparked intense protests from a section of farmers, and slammed as ”’very unfortunate” the violence during the farmers’ tractor parade on Republic Day.
He also noted that the new agri laws have immediately benefited 10 crore small farmers.
In his customary address to the joining sitting of Parliament on the first day of the Budget session, Kovind said the ”insult” to the tricolour and Republic Day during the January 26 protests was ”very unfortunate”.
If the Constitution gives us the right to freedom of expression, it also reaches us to take laws and rules seriously, he said in his address that was boycotted by over 20 opposition parties in support of the demand of protesting farmers that the three laws be repealed.
Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu raised slogans like ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’ during his address and demanded repeal of the three laws. Some opposition MPs were heard raising slogans in the Central Hall’s gallery.
Noting that the Supreme Court has put the implementation of the three laws on hold, Kovind said the government will respect whatever is the decision of the apex court.
In his hour-long address in Hindi to the joint session, President Kovind right in the beginning paid tributes to late President Pranab Mukherjee as well as MPs who lost their lives during the Corona pandemic. He also lauded India for its massive vaccination drive which is the world’s largest such campaign.
President Kovind said: “It is a matter of pride that India is running the biggest vaccination programme in the world. Both vaccines of this programme are made in India. In this crisis, India shouldered its responsibility towards mankind and provided lakhs of doses of vaccines to several nations.”
Dwelling upon the contentious issue of retaining the Minimum Selling Price (MSP) regime, the President said, “We implemented the Swaminathan Commission report on MSP. We are focussing on micro irrigation.”
“We are happy that farmers are getting the benefits of several scheme taken by the government. The country witnessed record production of crops, fruits and vegetables. The government has taken several decisions for small farmers,” he added while praising the efforts of the Modi government.
Speaking about the three farm laws that have created an unsavoury situation for the Modi government as a large number of farmers embarked upon massive protests across states, President Kovind defended the laws.
“The government has implemented three farmer’s bills after proper consultation seven month back. This is going to benefit 10 crore small farmers. Many political parties supported these views in the past. These bills were debated properly in the Parliament, but have now been put on hold after a Supreme Court decision,’ he said.
“My government would like to clarify that the rights and facilities that were available before the formation of the three farm laws have not been cut short, in fact with these new agricultural reforms the government has provided new facilities and rights to farmers,’ he said.
President Kovind dwelt upon rural development, direct benefit transfer, rural roads, infrastructure, defence capabilities, social and health sectors, listing out achievements of the Modi government. Portions of his speech were read out by Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu in English.
