Farm Bill 2020 and the protest

Farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, have been protesting since the day central government’s ‘farmer-friendly’ ordinances regarding agricultural changes were issued in the parliament and passed a few days ago.

HISTORY

After the independence, to improve the pathetic situation of our farmers, some laws were made in which Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) was the one. Experts say that it helped them immensely during the Green Revolution.

APMC Act of 1966 was to regulate the buying/selling of agricultural produce. Traders act as middlemen with a license. They are also called ‘Mandis’. The agricultural products are sold at the Minimum Supporting Price (MSP). The reformation in the bill was done in 2003 as there were various drawbacks in the conventional APMC rule.

ORDINANCES PASSED IN PARLIAMENT

The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 is the first ordinance. Also known as Free Market in which farmers will be free to sell their agricultural produces anywhere.

The trade is no longer confined to mandis now and there will be a framework for electronic trading also. Farmers can choose their marker, price and also they can sell directly sell their produce without agents.

 

The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 is the second ordinance that provides a framework for contract farming.

Farmers can sign sale contracts with wholesalers, large retailers and wealthy exporters, etc. at an agreed price for the produces. Farmers can plan ahead and invest properly on all the inputs required. Private sector investment will increase and consequently marketing price will reduce.

The laws under which contract is signed must be valid for farmer’s protection. Effective dispute resolution mechanism has been provided to solve issues regarding contract at a given time.

 

The Essential commodities (Amendment) Bill, is the third ordinance which is regarding unlimited stocks. It was first passed in 1955. It takes onions, cereals, edible oil, etc. out of essential commodities. Except for ‘extraordinary circumstances’, the law removes the stockholding limits on these items.

This law is done for better storage. In the decade, there have been complaints of crop failure and storage spoiling in FCI, private warehouses, etc. This will attract foreign investments and corporate for the concern of crop protection in the food supply chain.

Improvement in the food supply chain will stabilize the price fluctuation. The price will neither crash during surplus crops nor rise during crop failure.

THEN WHY ARE FARMERS UNHAPPY?

Farmers protesting in Punjab

1. Farmers think that the new laws would dismantle the MSP system. More than 70-80% of farmers in Punjab and Haryana benefit from MSP, which is less than 12% for the whole nation.
2. Farmers are concerned about their assured income; they don’t need large market but procurement of their usual sale of crops at the price where they lose nothing.
3. The law of contract farming is termed as ‘corporate agricultural bill’ because it would surely open the doors for big corporations to step into the agricultural business world.
4. Eventually, the big corporations would run their monopoly in fixing prices and dispute, which would be disastrous for the small farmers.
5. The bulk procurement by large market players would result in an increase in prices of onions, pulses, and edible oil which is important for daily purpose.
6. The bulk procurement may hurt farmers as corporate will hoard and beat down the actual prices, no guarantee for MSP.
7. The commission agents who work as middlemen in the market of agricultural products are at the stack of huge loss.
8.  State governments generate revenue through the through mandi fees, charges included for electronic trading and contract sign. Now buyers and sellers are free and no charges are made, eventually causing losses to the state government.
9.  The opposition at the central and some states say that this law is unconstitutional as it is harming the states and our farmers, and benefitting hoarders and black marketers.

CONSEQUENCES

Karnataka farmers opposing the bill

The protests are going on since the day laws were issued in the parliament. They were passed in an unusual manner, leaving the opposition and farmers unhappy. Though PM Modi has said that the laws are revolutionary and benefit our farmers, yet there is no sign of satisfaction or negotiation from farmers and Arhtiyas (Middlemen).

The protests are highly active in the cities of Punjab and Haryana. Western UP, Bangalore, and some parts of Tamil Nadu are also having groups of unsatisfied farmers with the ordinances.

Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union Minister from Modi cabinet, has resigned in opposing the bills made for agriculture. However, the central government is considering this step for the Punjab elections to be held in February 2022.

Farmers announced the social boycott of Sunny Deol, MP from Gurdaspur. They said that despite being a son of a farmer, he has betrayed them by supporting the farm bill in parliament which is controversial and resulted in a large scale protest.

 

Government is trying to assure the farmers regarding MSP, but there are still many things left to answer, for both the central government as well as the opposition. After all, it is the question of satisfaction of our farmers which is a major issue to focus irrespective of the after-effects of any amendments made.

This was all about the bill, the events in Rajya sabha and reality of media will be in the next article.

What is right for our farmers and what is necessary to be done or improved? Share your opinion.