The Context behind Farm Laws : Vishal Shinde
Intro :
In the year 2020 Indian Government passes the three agriculture acts which mainly was the amendment in the existing acts. The three laws are, 'The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act' which now permits intra-state and inter-state trade of farm produce outside the traditional APMC mandis. 'The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act' related to the stocking of essential commodities and 'The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act' provide a legal framework for contract farming between farmer and buyer.
Body :
Since the independence, there is not a single attempt by the government to revolutionize the traditional farm system in India. Indeed there is a need to amend some of the farm laws. But since the enactment of these Farm Bills, they are facing a strong backlash from farmers and opposition leaders. Let us understand the Farm laws one by one. The first 'The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act 2020' which facilitates the intra-state and inter-state trade of farmer's produce beyond the physical premises of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMCs). In the past, the farmer needs a special permit to trade his produce outside his parent APMC or mandis. Also, the permitting system carries its own drawbacks, large paperwork, huge corruption makes this process tedious. Also, the state-run APMCs collected some tax from the farmers but in the new farm laws, there would not be any tax on the private mandis. The farmers are arguing that the people will depend on the private mandis and the state-run mandis will lose their importance, which would eventually shut down the state-run mandis.
The second farm law is 'The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020' is the amendment in the previous Essential Commodities act. In the past, the trader can not store unlimited food grains, but the new farm law allows the trader for unlimited stocking of goods. The critics are arguing that there is the possibility that the trader could stimulate the price of the product by huge stocking and surprise supply in the market. although the government can intervene when there is an emergency or the price rate stipulates much high. The third farm law is 'The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020'. This provides a national framework on farming agreements that protects and empowers farmers to engage with agri-business firms, processors, wholesalers, exporters, or large retailers for farm services and sale of future farming produce at a mutually agreed remunerative price framework in a fair and transparent way. The farmers are worried about contract farming, which is not suitable for the small farmers.
Beyond these laws, farmers want the MSP (Minimum Support Prices) to be legal. The MSP is not guaranteed or a legal system, it was started in 1966 when there is a food shortage when the food grain price drops historically low. They also demand the MSP should apply to the private mandis.
Summary :
Farmers are protesting against these farm laws since December of the last year, Government and farmers should come to some beneficial conclusion. The violent protest on 26 January triggers ethics of protesting.
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