Colonel B S Nagial (Retd)
The present stalemate between Government of India and protesting farmers doesn’t show any signs of resolution as of now. Farmers mainly from Punjab and Haryana are protesting against three laws enacted recently by the Central Government. These three laws are:
* Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020:
* It widens the space of trade areas of farmers produce of particular regions to ‘any place of production, collection, and aggregation’ and facilitates farmers for e-trading and e-commerce of their produce.
* States can’t levy any market fee, cess or any levy on farmers, traders, e-trading and e-commerce platforms which are engaged in trading of farmers’ produce.
* Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020.
* It helps to create a national framework for contract farming through an agreement between a farmer and a buyer before the production of any farm produce.
* It allows farmers to directly engaging with the public as well as private business firms, processors, wholesale producers, etc. for farm services and sale of their products by a mutually decided price framework.
* Essential Commodities (Amendment)Act,2020.
* It empowers Centre to regulate food items through essential commodities.
* The Centre can impose any stock limit on agriculture produce based on the price mechanism.
These legislations sought to bring much-needed reforms in agriculture marketing. But these farmers are apprehensive that such free-market mechanism enumerated in these bills will undermine the Minimum Support Price (MSP). Farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, are profoundly depended on public procurement and are assured price through Minimum Support Price(MSP). In Punjab and Haryana, about 90% of paddy and 72% of wheat production in 2017-18 and 2018-19 was procured through public procurement system at MSPs.
Concerns of the Farmers. Concern raised by the farmers during the talks with the Centre while insisting taking these bills back.
* Laws on ‘agriculture marketing’ and ‘contract farming’ will enable the private big business houses to have control over crop purchasing. It will set-up private agriculture markets and thus will manipulate agri-prices both of inputs and outputs. They will also control the logistic and transportation of crops. It will further lead to monopolisation of food products and will abolish the ‘mandi’ system.
* Amendment in the Essential Commodities Act will lead to hoarding and black marketing and will expose rural and urban poor to big food corporate houses and farmers.
* Agri-business firms, processors, wholesalers, exporters and large retailers for farm services will manipulate the market situation for their profit.
* Law on the contract farming will put the farmers’ ownership of land at risk as the Act provides the debt instruments to operations along with the contract with companies.
* Farmers can not protect their interests when exposed to big business houses.
* Law makes the SDM court the final authority for dispute resolution. Farmers say they should be allowed to approach the higher courts.
* It is unfair to punish farmers for stubble burning under the ordinance on air quality management without providing them alternatives.
* Proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill will force farmers to make payment upfront at the rates decided by the private power companies.
Realities.
* The flawed argument on MSP. These bills don’t speak of doing away with MSPs. Moreover, APMCs have never assured that farmers get MSPs. (which itself has no legal backing). About 80% of farmers have landholding less than 2 acres of land farming; hence are not the sellers but are the buyers. Therefore, the rise in MSP hurts these small farmers rather than helping them. This MSP is benefitting big farmers.
* Food security is no more an issue any more. The roots of state intervention in agriculture, from agriculture procurement and end in rationing and imposing restrictions on private traders are bound in recuring food shortage after independence. Many experts believe that these incentives are redundant now as India is the food-surplus country now reforms intend to these anomalies.
* Equality for all.According to one report conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute, 63.3% of rural India could not afford the Cost of Recommended Diet(CoRD). The purported food surplus seems to be the results of inadequate food consumption due to affordability issues. These legislations will help to remove this anomaly.
* Majority of farmers protesting are better than others. As the survey carried out by the National Statistical Organis-ation (NSO) in 2003 indicates that farmers from Haryana and Punjab had higher income as compared to their peers in other states. A disproportional share in Government procurement at MSP plays a vital role in this.
* Contract farming was long over-due. If we look at contract farming in India, then it shows that small and marginal farmers are leftover. Issues they confront are pro-contracting agency contracts, delayed payments, undue rejection, cheating, etc. Hence it became necessary for the Government to bring the legislation.
Conclusion: While the farmers want these three farms laws to go, and a new law should protect MSPs. Government has already assured that the farmers on the issue of MSPs. The options before the Government are: Government can repeal these farm bills, can form a legal framework to enforce MSPs, implementing the price stabilisation mechanism, decentralisation of MSPs and other subsidies, etc.
The Government must try to allay the fears and misinformation of the farmers relating to newly enacted Farm Bills. It is never too late to mend. The Government should not put any pre-conditions to talks with farmers. There is a genuine uncertainty over the ‘private procurement’. Does it mean greater corporate power over the farmers or unhealthy monopolies? The Government must clarify this clause. If farmers have genuine concerns, then the Government should not shy away from reviewing these legislations through the proper parliamentary procedures
Political parties and other organisations who are opposing these Farm Bills should keep the interests of the farmers above their petty politics.
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com
Follow our WhatsApp channel
