Agriculture Bill

Everything you need to know

By Vijay Vardhan Azad

28/104 Sec-A

 The President gave his assent to the two contentious agriculture Bills that were earlier
passed by the Parliament. The opposition as well as long-time BJP ally Shiromani
Akali Dal have termed these reforms as "anti-farmer".

 Minister of Food Processing Industries and the only SAD representative in the Modi
government, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, resigned from the Union Cabinet, protesting
against the bills, alleging the Bills to be detrimental to Punjab's agriculture sector.
Following this, the BJP's oldest ally, Shiromani Akali Dal quit the National
Democratic Alliance (NDA).

 What are the three bill in Contention ?

Out of the three bills, Lok Sabha, through voice vote, passed the Farmers’ Produce Trade and
Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and the Farmers (Empowerment and
Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020.

The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill was passed earlier in the week. Agriculture
Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the bills are not going to override the Minimum Support
Price mechanism, and adequate protection of land ownership was in place to protect farmer
interests.They will now be tabled in Rajya Sabha and will become laws after the Upper
House passes them.

 What are they for ?

The government has said these reforms will accelerate growth in the sector through private
sector investment in building infrastructure and supply chains for farm produce in national
and global markets.They are intended to help small farmers who don’t have means to either
bargain for their produce to get a better price or invest in technology to improve the
productivity of farms.

The bill on Agri market seeks to allow farmers to sell their produce outside APMC 'mandis'
to whoever they want. Farmers will get better prices through competition and cost-cutting on
transportation. However, this Bill could mean states will lose 'commissions' and 'mandi fees'.

The legislation on contract farming will allow farmers to enter into a contract with agri-
business firms or large retailers on pre-agreed prices of their produce. The Essential
Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, seeks to remove commodities like cereals, pulses,
oilseeds, edible oils, onion and potatoes from the list of essential commodities.

This will end the imposition of stock-holding limits except under extraordinary
circumstances.
  Who is Protesting ?

Farmers in Punjab have organised a three-day protest against the bills. Badal, too, tendered
her resignation after the Bills were passed. Opposition parties, including TMC,
Congress, DMK and BSP, opposed the agriculture sector reform bills,
saying they were against the interests of small and marginal farmers.

Congress upped its ante against the Modi government, terming the move a conspiracy to
defeat the Green Revolution.Slamming the government, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said:
"This government has been eyeing, how they can take the farmers' land to benefit their
capitalist friends, whether is the Land Acquisition Act, whether in the industrial system
through weakening the labour courts and now this three-pronged attack on the Indian
agricultural system through the two bills on farming - one related to APMC, the other
one is related to contract farming and the third bill which is on essential commodities...
a three-pronged attack on the Indian farmers."