Prime Minister Narendra Modi has strongly defended the new agricultural laws saying farmers would benefit the most from investments in the agriculture sector and will also get new markets and opportunities which will pave the way for the increase in their income.The PM was speaking at 93rd annual convention of FICCI on Saturday. “In a vibrant economy, when a sector grows, it has a direct influence on other sectors as well. Reforms that we’re doing are removing all such needless frameworks. Our economy doesn’t need hurdles between sectors, but bridges to support each other. In the last few years, we’ve made reforms to break all such hurdles. The agriculture sector is one such example. Today, farmers of India can sell their produce both at the mandis, as well as outside. Farmers can also sell their produce on digital platforms. We are taking all these initiatives to increase the farmers’ income and make them more prosperous. If the farmers of the country become prosperous, the country becomes prosperous,” the PM said, at a time when thousands of farmers are sitting on Delhi’s borders in protest of the new farm laws.The PM also said the country’s recovery from the COVID pandemic was good and economic parameters were improving. He said foreign investors had made a record investment in FDI in India during the COVID period. “There have been several ups and downs this year and when we look back and think about the COVID pandemic, we might not even believe it. A good omen is that the speed of recovery is good. The economic indicators are raising hopes today. The country has learnt a lot during difficult times and it has given our aspirations even more strength. A lot of credit goes to our entrepreneurs, our youth, our farmers, and all Indians,” the PM said. He said a country that saves most of its citizens during a global pandemic is capable of rebounding in all other sectors. “India preferred saving lives and the world is seeing results. The entire country took several key steps together in fighting the pandemic,” the PM said.Speaking on his Aatmanirbhar Bharat call, the PM said India’s private sector can create a global image for itself besides fulfilling the country’s domestic needs. “The Aatmanirbhar Bharat movement is a vision to make quality products in India and make Indian industries competitive,” the PM said. He added that a decisive government does not want to keep all the power to itself. “This approach had created a very poor situation. Instead, the right government wants all stakeholders to use all of its talents and contribute. India has witnessed that in the last six years,” Modi said. He pointed out how India’s corporate tax was among the most competitive in the world and India is among the few countries that have a faceless assessment and faceless appeal facility. “We’ve left behind the era of Inspector Raj and tax terrorism,” the PM said. He said India has the world’s largest Direct Bank Transfer and unlike most countries, India was able to send crores of money to its poor and needy via the DBT during the COVID pandemic.“Every month, UPI witnesses transactions worth Rs 4 lakh crore every month, and the record is being broken every year. Digital payments are being made possible even on small vendors in rural parts of the country. Rural India is undergoing a massive change today. The active internet users in rural India today are higher than urban India. More than half of India’s start-ups are in Tier-II and Tier-III cities,” the Prime Minister said.
Source: Economic Times
