Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared the repeal of the three contentious farm laws, which had witnessed protests from farmers of the country. During announcement, PM said PM Modi said his government did its best to educate and inform the farmers about the laws and will continue to keep working for their betterment.
Why in news:
- The announcement of farms law repealing was the main news of the day as these farm laws witnessed the non halted protest since November 2020 ( for almost a year).
- The protest is mostly from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh states farmers. The farmers and their unions have been protesting at Delhi’s border demanding the repeal of laws.
- The protest has also seen suicides of farmers demanding the repeal.
- From the 1st day of protest, opposition parties in the country supported the protest.
- BJP, the ruling party also suffered from opposition from their alliance parties as food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal from shiromani akali dal resigned from the union cabinet in protest.
- According to experts, the protest was likely to disturb the ruling party BJP’s political calculations in the upcoming state elections.
Key points:
The three farm laws were-
- The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, is aimed at allowing trade in agricultural produce outside the existing APMC (Agricultural Produce Market Committee) mandis.
- The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, seeks to provide a framework for contract farming.
- The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020, which is aimed at removing commodities such as cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onion, and potato from the list of essential commodities.
The reason behind Government’s Announcement of three farm laws-
There has been a long-pending demand for reforms in agricultural marketing, a subject that comes under the purview of state governments. In 2003, The Agriculture Ministry under the then NDA government designed a model APMC Act in 2003 and circulated it among the states. The subsequent UPA government, too, pushed for these reforms. But given that it is a state subject, the Centre has had little success in getting the states to adopt the model APMC Act. It was in this scenery that the present government went for reforms in the sector by passing these laws.
Main farm unions involved in protest:-
- Samyukt Kisan Morcha
- All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee
- Bharatiya Kisan Union
Along with these unions, other major farm unions were also involved in the protest. Lead figures during protest-
- Rakesh tikait, national, spokeperson of bhartiya kisan union (BKU).
- Gurnam singh charuni, chief person of bhartiya kisan union in haryana
- Joginder singh ugrahan,President of BKU.
Reason behind the protest:
- At the time of the announcement of farm bills, the farmers were upset with the provisions of these Bills as they were afraid that these Bills may be the platform that the government (at the Centre) is setting up for the replacement or scrapping of the otherwise robust support system prevalent in their states for the purchase of their crops.
- Farmers conception was Alternative private mandi will lead to the ultimate closure of existing APMC mandi.
- Farmers are worried the MSP will be removed / no government control over prices.
- According to bill 3, farmers think unlimited stocking can lead to artificial price fluctuations and low price for farmers after harvest.
Impact of Farm Laws:
- The government hailed the Bills as a turning point that will enhance competition. The Bills, the government claims, will encourage private players to invest in the agriculture sector, especially marketing infrastructure, leading to higher productivity and prices to the farmer.
- The bill has an enormous effect on farmers, on what and how food is grown, and for both low-income families and rural communities. All of these in turn impact local economies, public health, international trade, the environment, food safety, and more.
Way Forward:
- The farms union stated that they will continue their protest in the demand of law on minimum support price and withdrawal of the police cases filed against many of them over the course of their protests.
- It is this inclusiveness that lies at the heart of the democratic functioning of India. It takes time and humility to implement reforms, given the argumentative nature of our society. But doing so ensures that everyone wins.
- Apart from these many experts say the repeal has stopped the major transformation in the Indian agriculture sector, they think repealing these laws is a setback to the reform process. It is just like that India missed the first and second industrialization in the 19th and 20th centuries.