Dr Jitendra Singh: Gandhiji would have been the happiest man today on the New Farm Laws

The Union Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh said that village and farm-centric vision of Bapu was truly addressed by new Agricultural Laws after 70 years of Independence by Modi Government.

Dr Jitendra Singh at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi

Oct 2, Delhi: Referring to a series of pro-farmer measures in the last six years like Neem coated urea, Soil Health Card, Kisan Credit Card, PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, Fasal Bima Yojna, the Union Minister said that all these measures are representative of democratization of Indian Agriculture since they provided freedom of choice to the farming community for the first time. Dr. Jitendra Singh was addressing an event titled “Mahatma Gandhi’s Experiments with Swachhata – Key to Prosperity” organized by Kendriya Bhandar and Centre for Strategy and Leadership on Gandhi Jayanti in New Delhi. He said, the new Farm Laws would not only provide impetus to Indian agriculture to complete at a global stage but would also help in doubling the income of farmers.

Referring to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister on 2nd October 2014, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that it was a unique example in the World that a campaign launched by any leader became a Jan Andolan within few weeks and underlined that this is a matter of great research for academia.

He said, after Cleanliness, Ganghiji’s Fitness Mantra was also fulfilled by Modi Government, when in December 2014, the United Nations had passed a resolution declaring 21 June as the 'International Day of Yoga' and as many as 177 countries had co-sponsored the declaration.

Dr Jitendra Singh said the process of fulfilling the dreams of Bapu began after 70 years of Independence by Narendra Modi Government which came into power in 2014. Referring to early lockdown decision of the Government to fight the Corona Pandemic, the Union Minister said that SwachhtaAbhiyan of last 6 years was a great boon in terms of Individual and Community Hygiene measures, which saved a lot of lives in the country. He said, Corona was an eye-opener and it underlined the importance of Cleanliness, a core philosophy of Bapu.

The Union Minister said that the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan or a Self-Reliant India is also a modified version of Gandhiji’s idea of Swaraj. Giving an example, he said that the sensitivity with which the Modi government views the importance for the promotion of Bamboo is evident from the fact the Central Government has recently hiked the import duty by 25 per cent on raw bamboo items to help the domestic bamboo industries like furniture, handicrafts and Agarbatti making in a big way.

In his concluding remarks, Dr Jitendra Singh praised the Kendriya Bhandar for its new work culture in the present government, wherein the turnover increased from Rs 750 Crore in November 2017 to Rs 1717 Crore, more than double in three years’ time. He also praised Shri Mukesh Kumar, MD, KendriyaBhandar for taking new measures during the Pandemic, be it on food items or Corona Kits thus increasing revenue and gaining the trust of the people.

Chairperson, KendriyaBhandarSmtParmeshwari Bagri, Shri Mukesh Kumar, MD, KendriyaBhandar, Shri Mayank Agrawal, Director General, Doordarshan, Shri Vikas Sharma, Director & Chief Executive, Centre for Strategy and Leadership and Lt. Col Yuvraj Malik, Director, National Book Trust also addressed the gathering.