NEW DELHI – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited protesting farmers for talks to address growers’ concerns about three new agricultural laws that seek to deregulate the country’s vast farm sector.
Thousands of farmers have been camping out on main highways on the outskirts of New Delhi for more than two months to force the government to withdraw the new agricultural laws.
“The laws give farmers the freedom to directly sell produce to buyers, unshackling them from the age-old restriction of selling crops only through wholesale markets,” Modi said on Wednesday.
Farmers accused the government of introducing the laws to help large private retailers.
Modi said India’s agriculture sector needed investment to help modernize the food supply chain and improve infrastructure, critical to raising farmers’ incomes, and India’s private sector should not be viewed with suspicion.(Reuters)
