‘New agricultural reforms have given new opportunities to farmers’: PM Modi in Varanasi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday arrived in his parliamentary constituency Varanasi, where he inaugurated the widened Handia-Rajatalab section of National Highway 19.

PM Modi said, “Today, Kashi is getting another gift of modern infrastructure on the festival of Dev Deepavali and Guru Nanak Jayanti. This will benefit Kashi as well as the people of Prayagraj.”

“With the widening of the highway, it will benefit the people during Kumbh. Such facilities attract tourists and devotees from all over the world,” he added.

Speaking after inaugurating the highway project, PM Modi said, “With the beautification of Kashi, we are now seeing the benefit of the work done here on the connectivity. Be it new highways, flyovers, widening of roads, the work that is being done in Banaras was never done before.”

“When modern connectivity expands in an area, it also benefits the farmers there. Over the years, efforts have been made to create cold storage along modern roads in the villages. A fund of Rs 1 lakh crore has also been created for this,” Modi said.

“With the establishment of a perishable cargo center in Varanasi, now farmers here have got a great facility to store and sell their fruits & vegetables easily. Due to this storage capacity, for the first time, the produce of farmers here is being exported in large quantities,” Modi added.

While talking about new farm laws, Modi said, “New agricultural reforms have given farmers new options & new legal protection. Earlier, transactions outside the markets were illegal. Now a small farmer can take legal action. The farmers have now got new options and legal protection from fraud.”

“Confusion is spread in society about what has not happened yet & which will never happen. The same is happening in the case of agricultural reforms. These are the same people who have consistently tricked the farmers for decades,” the Prime Minister said.