Tomar welcomes decision to repeal farm laws, regret not able to convince some farmer groups

Tomar, in a video message, said that the government wanted to remove hurdles being faced by the farming community by bringing three new farm laws. These laws, which were passed by Parliament, would have definitely benefited farmers, he said and added that the PM's intention behind these laws 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 always tried to bring changes in the farm sector through these laws. But such situation arose that some farmers found problems in these laws. The government adopted the path of dialogue to discuss logically, he said.

''We tried to convince but we're not successful,'' the minister said welcoming the PM's announcement to withdraw the three farm laws.

Asserting that the Modi government has been committed to agriculture and farmers welfare since last seven years, Tomar highlighted various schemes and programmes launched since 2014. The government has decided to fix the minimum support price (MSP) at least 1.5 times of the cost of production, procurement has doubled, he said. To support small farmers income, the government has launched the PM-KISAN scheme under which Rs 1.62 lakh crore has been disbursed to farmers so far, he said. Crop loan has been doubled in last seven years, while the kisan credit card coverage has also been expanded. About Rs 1 lakh crore infrastructure fund has also been established, he added.