All You Must Know about the New Farm Bills

Earlier, Agriculture bills were passed by the government, but finally after many controversies, the President gave approval to the new bills. Opposition party and long term supporter of BJP Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) have called these reforms as Anti-Farmer.

Protesting against these reforms, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Minister of Food Processing Industries and the only SAD representative in Modi Government, has resigned from the Union Cabinet, and also called these bills to be hurtful for Punjab’s Agricultural sector.

Now, know about all the information related to the agricultural reform 2020

What are the three Reforms?

The Farmers’ Produce Trace and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020.

Objective of These Reforms

The objective of these bills is to make way for creating the Modi Government’s ambitious vision of “One India, One Agriculture Market.” And one more purpose is to end the monopoly of Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs) in carrying out the trade of farm produce in the country. Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has assured that the Minimum Support Price mechanism will stay, and adequate protection of land ownership was in place to protect farmer interests.

These laws are intended to help small farmers who don’t have means to either bargain for their produce to get a better price or invest in technology to improve the productivity of farms. One thing to be noted is that, states will lose commissions and mandi fees. The law on contract farming will allow farmers to enter into a contract with agri-business firms or large retailers on pre-decided prices of their produce. And the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020 will remove commodities like cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onion and potatoes from the list of essential commodities. This will end the imposition of stock-holding limits except under some special conditions.

Who is protesting these Reforms?

Political parties and some farm organizations including Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) and the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), an Umbrella body of several organizations, have been protesting against the bills, as they believe these are designed to help big corporate houses on the cost of farmers. Opposition parties have also been opposing these reforms and calling them Anti-Farmers.

And some groups such as Maharashtra Based Shetkari Sangathan are in support of these bills.

These bills are likely to impact influential commission agents in mandis who don’t want grip over farmers to weaken.

Source- Economic Times