Farms laws

 Farmers in Punjab and Haryana and of almost whole country are protesting against three ordinances promulgated by the Centre on June 5 .

WHAT ARE THESE ORDINANCES, AND WHY ARE THE FARMERS PROTESTING?

They are called The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020.

 The protesting farmers fear that powerful investors would bind them to unfavorable contracts drafted by big corporate law firms, with liability clauses that would be beyond the understanding of poor farmers in most cases. According to the government, The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 liberates farmers by giving them the freedom to sell anywhere. The Opposition says this would lead to corporatization of agriculture, with the market, along with the monsoon, becoming an unpredictable determinant of the destiny of farmers. They argue that farmers can sell outside the APMC even now, and most in fact do, albeit after paying the required fees or cess.

WHY FARMERS ARE NOT BELIEVING THE GOVERNMENT?

It seems the government has one foot on the accelerator to liberalize agrimarkets, and the other foot is on the brake (ban on onion exports). Just to cite an example late Arun Jaitley had announced a scheme called TOP (tomatoes, onions and potatoes) to stabilize the prices of these farm products through processing and storage. He also allocated Rs 500 crore for it. The scheme was entrusted to the Ministry of Food Processing for implementation. But even after three years of the scheme, not even 5 per cent of the money promised has been spent. No wonder, the government is back to export bans of onions, fearing a spike in onion prices. All this dents its credibility. Much of the opposition really is just to one of the three laws. Even in that one — the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act — there are only some contentious provisions, which, although key, can still leave doors open for negotiation. Consider first the two laws that ought not to be serious cause for farmer angst.

THE CONTENTIOUS ONE:

That leaves the only law – the FPTC act . It permits sale and purchase of farm produce outside the premises of APMC mandis. Such trades (including on electronic platforms) shall attract no market fee, cess or levy “under any State APMC Act or any other State law”.

THE QUESTION OF CONSTITUTIONALITY

India is a democracy with a federal structure. Legislative powers are distributed through the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution which contains a Union list, a state list and a concurrent list. Agriculture is a state subject(entry 28 of state list) Markets and fairs’ are also a state subject (Entry 28 of the state list). Even trade and commerce within a state is also a state subject (Entry 27). However, it is subject to Entry 33 of the concurrent list. It is this Entry 33 of the concurrent list which has been put to use by the Centre to bring these farm bills. The state of Punjab and Rajasthan have passed the resolution against the resolution against the laws in the state Parliament.

Therefore the Bills can be Challenged in court of law. 

Comments

  1. Aditi PariharJanuary 25, 2021 at 6:00 PM

    I commend the writer's comprehensive coverage of the issue. India does need agricultural reforms but such reforms must be structured on the consensus of the stakeholders. The Government must adopt an inclusive approach on the matter!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dhruv VatsyayanJanuary 25, 2021 at 10:41 PM

    Commendable effort. Keep writing :)

    ReplyDelete

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