In an exclusive interview with Network18 Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke about the farmers agitation, among several other issues, and re-iterated what the government has been saying for long — that they want the farmers to come to the table and talk about their points of concern.

When asked about the farmers agitation, she said, “It is surprising that farmers doubt the intent of the government. MSP has been steadily going up since 2013-14.”

While several rounds of talks with the agitating farmers have failed to solve the impasse, she said the government wants the farmers to point out specific things in the farm laws that they have a concern over.

Also read: Union Budget 2021 Live Updates

Sitharaman said, “The government wants farmers to be at the table and talk it out with the Agriculture Minister. The PM (Modi) said he is will willing to look at the modifications farmers want. We want farmers to talk on points of concern. Want farmers to specifically highlight what aspects of farm laws are problematic.”

Sitharaman said, “Farmers are probably misguided. I want them to talk. I want them to talk on the points of concern. We are willing to concede.”

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking on the Union Budget 2021, had said that it had focused on increasing the income of farmers. He had said, “More focus to increase income of farmers. All these decisions shows that village and farmers are in heart of this budget.”

Highlighting how the budget can help farmers, PM Modi had said, “Farmers will be able to get loans easily. Provisions have been made to strengthen APMC markets with the help of Agriculture Infrastructure Fund.”

The farmers agitation has been ongoing since December 2020 as they have demanded that the three farm laws be scrapped. While the government has said it would delay implementation, it has repeatedly reiterated that they want the farmers to have dialogue and express their concerns clause by clause.

Even on the day of the budget, farmers’ protests continued at the Ghazipur border at the Delhi-Ghaziabad route, with traffic being diverted at Akshardham for Noida. “Traffic will remain affected on Road no 56 from ISBT Anand Vihar to Ghazipur due to closing of border,” Delhi Traffic Police had said in a tweet on Monday morning.