Industry, stakeholders must back farm laws: Ficci President

New Delhi: Industry and potential stakeholders should step up and back the farm laws introduced by the government by “lending their voice” as the sector was in urgent need of reforms and the laws were in larger national interest, said FICCI's new president Uday Shankar.

Agriculture was the least reformed sector where there is a need for raising productivity, incomes, generating employment, which in turn requires fresh capital, technology and creating of new markets so as to reduce volatility and bring in more transparency, he said.

“All the direct and potential stakeholders need to step up and try and explain why they are important and in national interest,” Shankar said.


“By and large, these reforms are in the interest of farmers, agriculturists and larger national interest and hence all of us should lend our voice to the discourse,” he said, adding that paralysing a city or a normal activity would not lead to a positive outcome for anyone.

More than 100,000 farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have blocked four-five key border roads of Delhi for nearly a month in protest against three farm laws passed by the Indian government in September. The government has been negotiating with the farmers but the stalemate continues with farmers asking for repealing of all three laws.