In a petition filed with the Punjab and Haryana High Court today, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has asked for an immediate intervention of the government authorities in the illegal acts carried out by the miscreants in the respective states. RIL has said that such acts of vandalism have damaged the company’s properties and endangered its employees’ lives. The Mukesh Ambani led company has credited its rivals for instigating such harmful acts towards Jio’s properties. The company didn’t name the rivals specifically, but it is not a hard guess that it is talking about Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) — more on the story ahead.
Jio has Only Helped Farmers so Far, Doesn’t Have Any Intention to Benefit from Farm Laws
RIL submitted multiple irrefutable facts to the High Court, which showed the company doesn’t stand or seek to benefit from the new farm laws in any way. Reliance Retail Limited (RRL), Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL), or any other RIL subsidiary has not done any ‘contract’ or ‘corporate’ farming in the past and doesn’t have any plans of entering it in the future. Further, the company doesn’t own or has any plans of owning a piece/pieces of land directly or indirectly in Punjab and Haryana on which it can carry out contract farming. The company’s retail arm, Reliance Retail, is not vested in farming activities in any capacity. It is merely a retail seller which sells multiple ranges and types of products. The retail subsidiary has never entered into a long-term contract with farmers to gain an unfair procurement advantage. RIL also said that it has never tried to procure farm produce at less than the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and advises its suppliers to do the same. The company said that it has helped Indian farmers a lot instead of hurting them. Reliance Retail has built a country-wide distribution chain, and with the economies of scale, it has helped farmers sell their produce easily and conveniently. Adding to that, Reliance Jio has helped bring low-cost 4G connectivity in the country’s rural areas so that the benefits of the Digital Revolution can be extended with the farmers and other people living there. The company has approximately 140 lakh customers in Punjab and 94 lakh customers in Haryana. All of these customers, along with millions more living across the country in rural areas, have benefitted from the low-cost 4G connectivity during the pandemic. It helped them stay connected with the world at a time when people required each other the most.
