NEW AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS BILL MUCH OPPOSED

Prime Minister and so the NDA led government is trying to convince the citizens that Farmers and Agriculture Bills passed through Ordinance route are predominantly in favour of the farmers and cautioned them that they are being misled and misguided by the opposition parties and vested interest groups. The Bills were passed without the intervention or discussion with the Opposition. Hence there are protests from the farmers especially from states like Punjab, Haryana and slowly spreading across the country.

Before I analyse the Bills, it is better to know the following terms in order to understand step by step how the farmers have been selling their produce.  These terms are

1.APMCs (Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees) - are regulatory marketing boards or mandies established by state governments in India to ensure farmers are safeguarded from exploitation by large retailers. 

A farmer with his produce above 400 Kg has to proceed to the agricultural markets run by APMCs appointed by the state governments. Licensed brokers, commission agents and traders operate at these markets to buy the produce from the farmers. Hence APMCs are regulatory entities.

2.MSP (Minimum Support Price) : The activities of the buyers could be scrutinised by APMCs to check whether they were paying the government approved prices to the farmer and not exploiting him.

3.Price Discovery : APMCs ensure that the farmer's produce would be sold at these designated markets at prices which were publicly displayed and monitored by the government.

4.The Middle Man : Only such licensed operators are allowed to buy agricultural produce from the producer. Therefore if an urban retail chain would like to purchase several tonnes of tomatoes to sell throughout the city, then it will have to procure them from these 'licensed market operatives'. The law prohibits them from directly sourcing from the farmer.

The new Bills prohibit State governments from collecting market fee, cess or levy for trade outside or without the APMC markets as APMCs are going to be removed.

There are about 250 associations of farmers who are currently resisting the bill and asking for more clarity about the implementation. 

Now, what the new Bills are all about? The Government would remove the APMC out of the process slowly, which indirectly also remove the middlemen and this is what the real intention is, which is no doubt a good one but are we prepared for it yet?

Would Agriculture which is the backbone of the country would be having a monopoly from the Corporates?

There is a total lack of clarity provided by the government to the farmers and the people of India. What I could gather after reading the new Bills that there would be no MSP as there would be no APMCs too. How Modi says that farmer will still have the option for selling his produce on MSP seems he is confusing the nation as APMCs are going to be removed from the process without creating other regulatory options.

So, the farmer has to sell the produce to the Corporates at prices set by the Corporates. It might lead to the exploitation of the farmers again. This can even be same as in ‘Corporate Contract Farming’. The Corporates would force the farmers to sell their produce, especially the perishables, at a lesser price, as earlier done by the Middlemen. The protests on this bill is merely for setting up an MSP for the produce across the country, on which the Government has not responded yet. The farmers would directly get exploited, and moreover if there is a dispute among the transactions, the bill is actually in favor of the corporates. And Corporates may not have to respond to the farmers as well. This needs to be corrected, isn’t it?

Now, coming to the MSP again. If APMCs are closed, what about the farmers who don’t have connections with Corporates? Where will he sell the produce? Are our farmers computer qualified for on-line transactions?

And on ground, what if the same middlemen are hired by the corporates? The Corporates still have the WIN-WIN situation even without changing the status quo.

If APMCs are removed slowly from the process, there would be no price discovery for the produce too, that can even lead to the Corporates may not agree with the price set by the Farmers, so the produce will not have a MSP and may not get sold ever. If APMCs are not there as regulators, it basically would attack the freedom of farmers. In the coming years, it could cause more distress among the farmers and we may even lose them. 

The Hindu editorial rightly says "Ordinances are being seen as a direct encroachment upon the functions of the States and against the spirit of cooperative federalism enshrined in the Constitution". 

Why so tearing hurry to bring the Agriculture Bills? This is Modi's style of working!! He sleeps only for 4 hours and works 18 hours a day. Results -- 

Demonetization that failed to account black money and ruined small businesses and the poor daily wagers.

GST that had to be amended about 300 times, ruined unorganized sector and caused huge loss of finances, man and material.

Corona lockdown --- no need to elaborate - a total systemic failure due to procrastination and vested priorities.

Modi government --- A government that will never do her homework before taking any policy decision. No wonder if this has been repeated once again in the case of new Agriculture and Farmers Bills passed through Ordinance route.