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Twin farmer bills passed together in late sitting: Akali minister quits

KT NEWS SERVICE. Dated: 9/18/2020 11:44:19 PM

NEW DELHI, Sep 17: The Lok Sabha on the fourth day of its monsoon session on Thursday discussed twin Bills concerning the farmers and sat more than two-and-a-half hours beyond the scheduled closure at 7 pm to pass them even as the Congress decried them as bartering away agriculture at the doorsteps of the crony capitalists and ruining the farmers and farm labourers by attacking their life and livelihood. Left out was the supplementary budget and related appropriation bill that will be taken up now only on Friday.
In a big jolt to the government, its ally Shiromani Akali Dal opposed the Bills as anti-farmers, with its president Sukhbir Singh Badal declaring towards the end of the debate that his party is a farmers' party that cannot vouch for the anti-farmer laws which will completely change the well-established system. He said the Akali Dal can't support the Bills that will give a big blow to Punjab which has been a granary of the country all these decades.
His wife Harsimrat Kaur, who is a union minister for food processing, will vote against the two Bills along with other Akali MPs. He said it doesn't mean she should quit the government as some Congress MPs demanded. It's up to Prime Minister Modi if he wants to keep her or not as it is always his prerogative, he added. After his announcement against the Bills, many Congress members including their leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said Harsimrat can no more remain in the government.
Harsimrat Kaur, however, differed with her husband and party president and tweeted: "I have resigned from Union Cabinet in protest against anti-farmer ordinances and legislation. Proud to stand with farmers as their daughter & sister."
The development will create a problem for BJP in Punjab since it has been riding all these years in the elections on the strength of the Akali Dal as a minor ally in the state.
Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who piloted both the bills, hailed them as the government's big hand to the farmers in liberating them to sell their produce anywhere in India and settle price of their crops even before the sowing to bring a paradigm shift in the way agriculture is conducted in the country. The ruling BJP members joined him in hailing Prime Minister Modi's big gift to the farmers on his 70th birthday on Thursday.
The Congress, however, opposed the two legislations -- the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation Bill and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bills, both inside the House and outside at a Press conference that they will put a death knell into the future agriculture as a "black chapter" against farmers, farm labourers and Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) or Mandis as called in farmers' parlance.
A Bill to amend the Essential Commodities Act that was passed early this week was also hailed by the BJP members as beneficial to the farmers in contrast to the Congress and other opposition parties stressing that the amendments liberate the traders to indulge in the malpractice of hoarding and blackmarketing with no government check any longer.
The first Bill gives the farmers "one nation, one market" to sell their produce anywhere in the country and they are not bound to sell only in the state-controlled Mandis at the prices fixed by a handful of traders licensed to purchase. The second Bill is to allow traders, wholesalers and companies to get into agreement with the farmers on the price they will get for their produce even before sowing. The agriculture minister claimed this will guarantee an assured return to the farmer irrespective of the vagaries of nature. Both the Bills are to replace the Ordinances promulgated in the first week of June.
The agriculture minister said the government's intent is to bring private investments in agriculture in a big way that are non-existent today. He said the licensed traders in the Mandi are limited to maximum 50 buyers while allowing farmers to take their produce anywhere outside the Mandis will open up a big market. Anyone having the PAN card can buy from the farmer outside the Mandi with no tax on the deals.
Meanwhile, the Bills ensure no long-drawn legal fights as they bar courts from any disputes between the traders and the farmers, by making the district collector and the sub-divisional magistrate(SDM) to adjudicate the disputes. Any disagreement will be first taken to the SDM and appeal will rest with the collector, with a ceiling on the decision within 30 days each.
The agreement on price even before the sowing will basically promote collective farming as the minister explained that 50 or 100 small farmers may sign up to produce a particular crop only, with the guarantee of the trader or company to buy the full stock. He said the ministry will draw up the agreement form on the guaranteed price.
It is all hogwash to fool the small farmers, who are in the majority because of the ceiling on agricultural land brought by the Congress in late 60s and who will have no capability to get the benefits except to become pawns in the hands of the brokers, said Congress leaders Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Gaurav Gogoi, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Ravaneet Singh Bittu, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Dr Amar Singh and Jasbir Singh Gills at a joint press conference here. They said this is a "diabolical conspiracy" of the Modi government to defeat the green revolution.
They said the crony capitalists with deep pockets will descend on the villages to buy out the farmers by forcing them to sell whatever they produce to them alone and nobody else under the twin Bills. They claim the new laws will reduce the proud owners of land as the Kisaan will be reduced to the level of the bonded labourers.
Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal opposed the two Bills as they would destroy the network of agriculture created in the country. He gave the instance of his Punjab state, asserting that it has one of the best Mandi setup to ensure the farmer gets his due price without any obstacles. He feared that the laws will give berth to the private mandis that will monopolise. The Speaker silenced his mike even as he announced that his party opposes these anti-farmer bills despite being an ally of the government. "Ours is a party of the farmers and we cannot support the anti-farmer steps," Badal declared even as the next member was called to speak.