What are Farm Bills 2020 and why farmers are concerned?

Farmers across India have taken to streets to protest against the three farm reform bills passed by the Parliament in the monsoon session amid protests by opposition parties and signed by President Ram Nath KovindThe three bills are The Farmersrsquo Produce Trade And Commerce Promotion And Facilitation Bill The Farmers Empowerment and Protection Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill and The Essential Commodities Amendment BillIn protest against the bills Union Food Processing Industries Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal Shiromani Akali Dal SAD MP resigned from the Union Cabinet SAD has been one of the oldest allies of the Bharatiya Janata Party BJPFollowing Harsimratrsquos resignation the SAD also pulled out of the BJPled NDA alliance on Saturday because of the Centres stubborn refusal to give statutory legislative guarantees to protect the assured marketing of farmers crops at minimum support price MSP thus snapping a threedecadeold alliance with the saffron partyThe President gave his assent to the three contentious agricultural Bills The President signed the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce Promotion and Facilitation Bill 2020 and The Farmers Empowerment and Protection Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill 2020 into law on September 24 and the Essential Commodities Amendment Bill on September 26The Law Ministry has also notified all the three Bills which are now lawsMany opposition parties including the Congress and SAD urged the President not to sign the bills Since Friday India has been witnessing nationwide protests by farmers over the Bills with Punjab and Haryana also witnessing rail and road blockades The farmers are saying that these farm reforms would pave a way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system leaving them at the ldquomercyrdquo of big companiesWhat are the three billsThe Farmersrsquo Produce Trade and Commerce Promotion and Facilitation Act 2020 seeks to give freedom to farmers to sell their produce outside the notified APMC market yards mandis The government says this is aimed at facilitating remunerative prices through competitive alternative trading channelsThe Farmers Empowerment and Protection Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act 2020 seeks to give farmers the right to enter into a contract with agribusiness firms processors wholesalers exporters or large retailers for the sale of future farming produce at a preagreed priceThe Essential Commodities Amendment Act 2020 seeks to remove commodities like cereals pulses oilseeds onion and potato from the list of essential commodities and will do away with the imposition of stock holding limitsThe government hopes that the new laws will provide farmers with more choice with competition leading to better prices as well as ushering in a surge of private investment in agricultural marketing processing and infrastructureWhy are farmers worried31 farmersrsquo organisations which have different ideologies and leanings are collectively fighting against these Bills Their concerns are mainly about sections relating to trade area trader dispute resolution and market fee in the first billMandis bring in revenue for state government and these laws will reduce their relevanceThere is hardly any regulation outside the mandis and no grievance redressal mechanism yetFarmers are worried that this will end minimum support prices regime and even the middlemen will be affectedFarmers will have the freedom to choose where they want to sell their produce but concerns are about the lack of bargaining power with big companiesWhat Prime Minister Narendra Modi saidHailing the contribution of Indian farmers in Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that they would benefit too from the new agriculturerelated Bills once these become lawsHe pointed out that growers had benefited after fruits and vegetables were taken off the ambit of the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee Act in 2014 and now other farmers would benefit tooThey would be able to send their produce wherever they want and also get good price the Prime Minister added while addressing the nation in the 69th edition of his monthly radio address Mann Ki BaatEarlier farmers could not sell their produce because of strict laws wherein they were challaned for selling their farm produce outside APMCsHe also referred to farmers in Haryana Gujarat and other states for doing well or themselvesWhat Maharashtra didThe Maharashtra government had implemented the contentious farm Ordinances way back in August even before the bills on it were passed by Parliament last weekIn a notification on August 10 issued by Director of Marketing Satish Soni all the Agriculture Produce amp Livestock Market Committees APMCs and District Agriculture Cooperatives were ordered to strictly implement the three Ordinances on the proposed laws in the stateDespite the MVA allies Shiv SenaNationalist Congress PartyCongress strongly opposing the new laws the state government had gone ahead even before the Centre issued any rules guidelines or framework on these Ordinances and six weeks before the bills were cleared by ParliamentSurprisingly over six weeks after the implementation in the state Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar appeared blissfully unaware of the developments when he indicated that the farm bills may not be implemented by the state He told mediapersons in Pune on September 26 that the government would consult experts before taking any final decisionThe latest development is expected to send shockwaves among the states farmers ignite fresh friction within the MVA but spell glad tidings for the Opposition state BJPKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the 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