Chairman of Committee on Agriculture turned down request to discuss impact of new legislation
Congress MPs Partap Singh Bajwa and Chhaya Verma, and Akali leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa on Monday walked out of a meeting of the Standing Committee on Agriculture after the panel chairman refused to discuss Centre’s three farm laws and their impact including the ongoing protests.
“Earlier today, Smt. Chhaya Verma, S. Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and I walked out in protest from the Standing Committee on Agriculture Meeting due to the refusal of the Chairman to discuss the 3 farmer acts and resultant issues. As a Standing Committee on Agriculture a part of the Parliament of India, such issues should be discussed to ensure that MPs can scrutinise and understand how the Government is handling issues. It is disappointing that this is not allowed,” Mr Bajwa said on Twitter.
The three Rajya Sabha MPs raised the issue with the chairman of the standing committee after citing the ongoing large-scale protests by different farmer unions that has resulted in thousands of farmers camping at the borders of Delhi for over 40 days in protest against the three farm laws.
BJP MP and panel chairman P.C. Gaddigoudar, however, didn’t allow the members to “deviate” from the pre-fixed agenda, resulting in the walkout by three members.
The agenda of the meeting was to take note of the evidence of the representatives of the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairy on the “status of Veterinary Services and Availability of Animal Vaccine in the Country”.
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