Central Government has passed Farm Bill in a hurry with dramatic actions in Rajya Sabha, Suspended opposition MP’s and no voting were done and saying complete democracy violation. PM Narendra Modi mentioned Farm Bill as historic bill and day as historic day of India, same wordings were repeated in the time of GST, Demonetization and other incidents. All those concepts were good but execution was very poor, they showed how a good initiative can be made worse, we all know about the GDP contraction happened in India for first fiscal year. Farmers in India are concerned about the Farm Bill; they are concerned about the base price of the crops. Central Government doesn’t have any correct estimation of how many farmers in India or how many farmer suicides happening in India every year. According to some reports in India we have about 15crore farmers and in which 86% are small scale farmers having land less than 5acers. As of 2014 around 12,000 farmers commit suicide every year. Indian Government has not published any data regarding farmer suicides since 2015. They don’t want us to know the reality behind that and they want to mask everything with one or other actions or incidents.
Democracy Violation In Rajya Sabha
Central Government passed three bills which will change the way farmers do business in India. The upper house or the Rajya Sabha on Sunday passed two bills in a charged session. After presidential approval, the bill becomes law, which is a formality at this stage. The tough stance taken by the government in the Rajya Sabha on September 20 against the demand of the opposition parties. Amid unprecedented uproar and protests, the government’s big three ticket form bills were passed by voice vote in the Rajya Sabha on Sunday. Opposition MPs sat in protest in the House for a while, after which 47 of them passed a no-confidence motion against Rajiv Sabha Deputy Speaker Harivansh Singh. The series suspended eight members of the opposition who staged a dharna outside parliament on Monday night. The NDA regime went against the parliamentary session to refer and examine bills to the parliamentary standing committees of the department, deliberately and at the root of the consultation process.
Neither of the previous bills, such as the Agriculture Bill or the Constitutional Amendment Bill, removing special status of Jammu and Kashmir and the Citizenship Amendment, Triple Divorce and Illegal Activities Bill none of these were referred to any of the committees of parliament for in-depth deliberation on a non-partisan basis by taking into account inputs from a variety of stakeholders.
What are Farm Reform Bills?
Farm bill passed by Indian Parliament is expected to have a great impact on Indian farmers and also it will change the way Indian farmers are doing trade for years. This bill will have direct or indirect impact on all of us. Whole country will be going to effect by the bill. PM Narendra Modi called this as 'watershed' moment. New Farm bill will remove APMC(Agricultural Produce Market Committee) from the trade link, APMC was introduced in 2003 to avoid exploitation of farmers by retailers and also to provide them a base price. New farm reform bills allow farmers to do a direct trade with cooperates. Government believes that farmers will be able to bargain better with cooperates and farmers can even do e-trade with anyone.
Three Farm Reform Bills passed in 2020
- Farmers are allowed to sell directly to cooperate or private buyers. Removing the monopoly of Government regulated mandis and will complete washout APMC from the trade link. Earlier farmers used to sell their goods in APMC and also there was some set base price or Minimum Support Price (MSP) for around 22 crops or cereals.
- Farmers can enter a legal contracts with these cooperates and can produce for them. This means farmers can go for contracts with these private companies even before harvesting and can produce goods for them as per the contracts.
- Removing the government ability to impose restrictions readily and allowing agro-business to stock food articles.
Newly passed agricultural bills are likely to break the monopoly of these intermediaries, as it gives farmers the freedom to make the first sale outside the MCD. Farmers will have the opportunity to sell their produce along the way without APMC. They allow private buyers to procure items needed for future sales, which only government-authorized agents have been able to do in the past; They explain the rules for contract farming, where farmers tailor their produce to the needs of specific buyers. The reforms, at least on paper, give farmers the opportunity to sell this so-called "mandi system" outside.
Pros of Farm Bill 2020
- The APMC monopoly will be destroyed and proposed changes must exclude intermediaries running the APMC.
- Farmers will have the opportunity to sell their produce directly to the private companies along the way without APMC.
- Farmers should be paid within three days
Why Farmers are opposing historic Farm Bill?
New Farm bill have many pros on paper but the real concern is with the reality, this will make the trade directly between farmers and cooperates and chance of exploiting the poor farmers is very high in this case, the government which is busy in privatizing everything is also aiming the agriculture sector to be privatized in the goal of farmers getting more profit. Farmers will be highly dependent on these cooperate decisions and will have to follow their contracts and the control of Government on these trade is also reduced thus giving more power to these cooperates. Main opposition party called the bill as black law or pro-corporate.
Minimal support price of goods is another major concerned for all farmers. Protests are strong in Punjab and neighboring states of Haryana, where the Mandi system is strong and productive. Anger over the bills is not only about restoring the importance of the APMC mandis, but also about how the bills are pushing the farming community. Not only farmer organizations, but also state governments and partners were not consulted. Farmers, however, are mainly concerned that this will eventually lead to wholesale markets and guaranteed prices, with no backup option. That is, if they are not satisfied with the price offered by a private buyer, they cannot return to the market or use it as a bargaining chip during negotiations.
Control of State government on the agriculture reduces in the new farm bill, current reforms have completely sidelined state governments and weakened their ability to regulate agricultural markets despite the state theme. Furthermore, unlike previous versions, the APMC focused on strengthening the performance of mandis while allowing more private market access and participation, the current FTPC bill completely bypassing the APMC, thereby creating a different structure that reduces the level of trade.
Cons of Farm Bill 2020
At the time of this agreement the farmers were at the mercy of the big corporations. If all MSPs are removed, farmers will lose the bargaining chip and they will always have the last-ditch sales option they have. Critics on the agriculture bill say the government does not have much control over the new regulations. Examples around the world show that when farmers are exposed to market forces, their incomes decline rather than grow. The main concern is that the capability of our farmers to bargain with these big corporate. Middle man will be affected; they may lose their revenue of income. Farmers are also concerned with the minimum support price for the goods. Mandis brings revenue to state government and that will be diminished. Farmers are concerned with the upper hand of large agriculture business which will result in the loss of farmers.
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