Hello everyone you all might know about three new farm bills passed by the union government on 14th September namely 'The essential commodities (amendment) bill, the farmers (Empowerment and Protection) bill. The farmers produce trade and commerce bill '. Since these bills have been passed by the government including the opposition party farmers were opposing the bills. The farmers from different states have started the protest. So in this blog we will study why farmers were protesting.
Highlights:
* How the Delhi Chalo Protest was started?
* Only Punjab farmers were protesting: Reality
*About farm bills: Provisions,
weakness and doubts over the bills and possible solutions
How the Delhi Chalo Protest was started?
From the September month only the agitation and protest were conducted against these laws in different states. As I mentioned earlier talk with farmers were held and the farmers have requested to the government to rethink about these bills but the talks were not successful .Even Bharat bandh was also called by the farmers. But the government response was not much. So after that farmers from different state with their farmers union have decided to protest in country capital to draw the attention of the government.
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| (image credit :zeenews.india.com) Only Punjab farmers were protesting? Many news channels were arguing that the protest was politically
motivated and other things but many reginal and other media channels have
reported that the Delhi Chalo protested was called by the All India Kisan
Sangarsh Samithi, Kisan Mukthi Morcha and other many other farmer union and accordingly
farmers from different states have stared the their journey but many of them
were stopped at border of UP, Delhi and other routes from entering the Delhi. Punjab farmers have started their journey
towards Delhi from 25th November and succeeded in reaching the Delhi
borders. UP, Haryana farmers have also joined the protest. As we Know that
majority of the Indian farmers were small holders are they were less aware of the
farm bills. When it comes to MSP and procurement Paddy and Wheat holds the
major portion and Punjab, Haryana and some part of U.P were major states to
grow these crops and doubt over the MSP defiantly hit out these farmers .So
these state farmers have took the lead in protest.
On 14th September the three farm bills were introduced
by the union agriculture minister in the parliament. We gone look at the
important provisions, the doubts and weakness in the bills and possible
solutions. 1. The Essential Commodities (Amendment bill), 2020
* The supply of food stuffs, edible oils and other essential
commodities may be regulated by the government under war, famine, extraordinary
price rise and natural calamity conditions. * There will be freedom to produce, hold, move, distribute
and supply will lead to harnessing of economies of scale and attract private
sectors /FDI into agriculture sector. Overall this bill aims to remove fears of
private investors of excessive regulatory interference in their business
operations. Doubts/ Weakness in the bill: * Removing many commodities from essential commodities list
may have adverse impact of public Distribution system (PDS). *Government will not regulate the supply of these commodities
means chance of hoarding by the traders by creating artificial shortage of
supply which have direct effect on consumers. Due to bulk procurement by the
large traders or hoarders the price of these commodities will jump at farm
level. Possible Solutions: * Instead of removing many commodities from the list of
essential commodities suddenly government should
have done it in the phased manner by seeing the impact. * Instead of liberalizing the stock limit and other
regulations to attract private entities government should have worked on PPP
model in Public distribution system and in case of storage and distribution
system. 2. The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) bill, 2020
*There will be farming agreement for the minimum of one
crop season or one production cycle of livestock and maximum period shall be of
five years. *Farming agreements may be linked with insurance or credit
instrument under state or central govt. schemes or any financial providers to
ensure risk mitigation and flow of credit to farmer or sponsor or both.
Sponsors were prohibited from acquiring ownership rights or making permanent
modification on farmers land. * For any dispute settlement parties may approach Sub-divisional
magistrate who has the authority in resolving the disputes. Doubts / Weakness in the bill: * There will be no action against the SDM or other authority
in case of dispute settlement under this law. As many farmers were illiterate they
don’t want to fall under these matters. * As we know that contract farming is not that much popular
in India and many contract MNC companies have cheated the farming community. Farmers
don’t have faith in the companies. Possible solutions: * On paper the act was very promising and looking strong but
the proper implementation and execution of the act is challenging. * Government authorities, FPOs (Farmer Producing Organization)
and other agencies should encourage the farmers to adopt contract farming
through awareness programmes and other means by informing them about the
benefits out of contract farming system.
3. The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce bill, 2020: The most important and debated bill among three bills.
* Under this bill farmers can sale and purchase the produce
anywhere and this act will also promote barrier free inter and intra state trade
outside the APMCs. *Farmers will not be charged any cess or levy for sale of their
produce. * No suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings shall lie
against the central or state govt. or any officer of state or central government. * There is also propose of an electronic trading in
transaction platform for ensuring seamless trading. Doubts/Weakness in the bill: * If farmers choice to sell their produce outside the APMC yard
there is questioning on performance of the APMC mandies. This bill will directly
affect the APMCs and their functioning. * There is uncertainty over continuation of MSP even though government
orally assuring that MSP will be continuing but in written form and in this law
the things were not mentioned. * We know that the e-NAM is online trading platform started by
the government which is yet become more popular among the farmers there mention
of starting of new electronic trading platform. There is uncertainty
over functioning of e-NAM. * There is mention of no cess/ levy on farmer sale then who
will bear these charges .There no clarification regarding these charges. Possible solutions: * Government should focus on the improvement in the
APMC act and on upgrading the present APMCs with better infrastructure with modern
storage facilities. * Government need to continue the MSP process and if at all government wanted to change anything in MSP it should be done only after detailed discussion with farmers and the experts. * Government should work on the growth and popularity
of e-NAM trading platform. * The new private e-trading platforms will have adverse effect
on e-NAM and the APMC mandies and other government regulated mandies will not
be able to compete with private entities in long-term.
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