Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), through its subsidiary Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, in a petition mentioned to be filed in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana today, has sought urgent intervention of Govt authorities to bring a complete stop to illegal acts of vandalism by miscreants, said RIL.
These acts of violence have endangered the lives of thousands of its employees & caused damage & disruption to the vital communications infrastructure, sales & service outlets run by its subsidiaries in the two states, RIL said in a media statement.
The miscreants indulging in vandalism have been instigated & aided by vested interests & our business rivals. Taking advantage of the ongoing farmers' agitation near the national capital, these vested interests have launched an incessant, malicious & motivated vilification campaign against Reliance, which has absolutely no basis in truth, it said.
The falsehood of the campaign becomes crystal clear from the following irrefutable facts, which we have placed before the Honourable HC. These facts establish that Reliance has nothing whatsoever to do with the three farm laws currently debated in the country, & in no way benefits from them. As such, the sole nefarious purpose of linking the name of Reliance to these laws is to harm our businesses & damage our reputation, said RIL.
RIL in its statement said that "Reliance Retail Limited (RRL), Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL), or any other affiliate of our parent company, i.e., Reliance Industries Limited have not done any 'corporate' or 'contract' farming in the past, & have absolutely no plans to enter this business".
Neither Reliance nor any of our subsidiaries has purchased any agricultural land, directly or indirectly, in Punjab/Haryana or anywhere else in India, for the purpose of "corporate" or "contract" farming. We have absolutely no plans to do so, it added.
Reliance Retail is an unmatched leader in organised retail business in India. It retails products of all categories including food grains & staples, fruits & vegetables, items of daily use, apparels, medicines, electronic products of various brands belonging to independent manufacturers & suppliers in the country. It does not purchase any food grains directly from farmers, according to RIL.
It has never entered into long-term procurement contracts to gain unfair advantage over farmers or sought that its suppliers buy from farmers at less than remunerative prices, nor will it ever do so.
RIL said that "We at Reliance have immense gratitude & the greatest respect for India's kisans, who are the 'ANNA DATA' of 1.3 billion Indians. Reliance and its affiliates are committed to doing everything to enrich & empower them. As customers of their services, we believe in building a strong & equal partnership with Indian farmers on the basis of shared prosperity, inclusive development & an equitable New India,".
Therefore, Reliance and its affiliates fully share & support the aspiration of Indian
farmers to get a fair & profitable price on a predictable basis for what they produce with exemplary hard work, innovation & dedication. Reliance seeks significant augmentation of their incomes on a sustainable basis, & pledges to work towards this goal.
Indeed, we shall insist on our suppliers to strictly abide by the Minimum Support Price
(MSP) mechanism, and/or any other mechanism for a remunerative price for farm produce, as may be determined & implemented by the government, RIL added.
Far from hurting the interests of Indian farmers, the businesses of Reliance have actually benefited them & the Indian public at large.
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