REFORM PANGS

144.52 MILLION TONNES

Estimated production of food grains during the 2020-21 Kharif season, a likely record

representatives of 29 farmer organisations from Punjab met two Central ministers at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal were trying to find a solution to the protests that have been going on since the last two months against three recent Central laws that liberalised agricultural goods trade in the country. The agitation had left Punjab, the epicentre of the protest, in a state of chaos. Farmers blocked rail tracks, but the railway ministry refused to restore goods train services citing security issues, even after protestors had cleared the tracks. As a result, outflow of food grains from the state, and inflow of goods (fertilisers, coal