<span style="color: #222222;">In Karnataka, Deputy Chief Minister Dr C N Ashwathnarayana interacted with farmers as part of Farmers Day celebrations today. Farmers Day is celebrated on the birthday of fifth Prime Minister Choudhary Charan Singh. Visiting the door steps of farmers in Magadi taluk, Dr. Ashwathnarayana disseminated the information on various schemes and programmes launched for the farmers by Central and State Governments. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Interacting with the farmers later, he informed the farmers that agri marketing reforms introduced by the Government will emancipate farmers from the clutches of middlemen. The reforms, he added, will create a system where the buyers will approach the door steps of farmers to purchase the produce.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">AIR Correspondent reports, Deputy Chief Minister Dr C N Aswathnarayana appealed to the farmers that they should not be misled by the propaganda by a few political parties against the farming reforms. In another event attended by Cooperative Minister S T Somasekhar, the APMC yard traders interacted with the minister. He informed them that the APMC yards will not be closed down by the Government and added that the APMC cess has been reduced from Rs 1.30 to Re one for the convenience of traders. The agri market traders appealed to the minister to impose cess on the proposed private mandies similar to the APMC cess and traders in the government yard should be given a level playing field at par with the private players. </span><br />''