Parliament’s Monsoon Session to Commence Today; Major Focus on Farm Laws

Monsoon session of Parliament is all set to start from Monday, 19^th July, 2021. The opposition is also ready to confront the NDA government on raging issues like fuel price rise, vaccination strategy and the farm laws.

A day before the session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in an all party meeting on Sunday, 18^th July, that the government is ready for a healthy discussion on various topics in the parliament. Opposition parties held a separate meeting after the all party meeting convened by the government to discuss their floor strategy.

The Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal has given an adjournment notice on farmers’ issue and opposition parties have supported it. She said in a statement, “The farms bills had been pushed through the house in utter disregard of the opposition by the stakeholders in these bills.” Many other opposition parties are expected to give adjournment notices on the farmers’ issues in both the houses of parliament.

Farmer Unions are planning to intensify their protests by marching towards the parliament during the monsoon session and sit outside the parliament while the proceedings will continue inside. They have been protesting on Delhi’s borders since last November against the center’s 3 farm laws and are demanding a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP).

Farmer Unions Demands:

Farmers believe that the laws will open the sales and marketing gates outside the notified Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMC mandis) for farmers; allow inter-state trade and encourage the electronic trading of agriculture produce. The new laws will prevent the state governments from collecting a market fee or cess for trade outside the APMC mandis. This has made farmers to believe that the mandi system will gradually deteriorate and ultimately end. This would leave farmers at the mercy of the corporate.

 The farmers also believe that the laws will end their existing relationship with the middlemen or commission agents who help them by providing loans, ensuring timely procurement and promising adequate prices for their produce.

Farmers’ union wants the monsoon session of parliament to address the issues related to the farm laws and focus on their demands.

They also want to make MSP and state procurement of crops a legal right. Further, they demand assurance that conventional procurement system will remain.

Farmers are adamant for repealing the farm laws, even after the government offered to stay the farm laws for 18 months on 21^st January, 2021.