You all must have heard an eye opener line that a biscuit drown in a cup of tea but this time the country has drowned itself in that cup. As each one perceives that India is an agrarian economy which is based on the shoulders of the farmers. When farmers tractor accelerate only then the nation accelerate. Hence, the farmer is known as “anndaata” a food god. India’s Former Prime Minister Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri gave a slogan “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan” giving a special significance to soldiers and farmers. But, at the minute there is a deadlock between central government and farmers of India. As farmer’s are protesting about three acts passed by parliament of India which arises the question of violation of farmer’s rights and liberty.
So, beginning from scratch the first and foremost law is The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 which allows the agriculturists to trade their farm produce outside the Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs) basically known as “mandis”. Inspite of this, any licence holder trader can buy the produce from the farmers at mutually agreed prices. However, this act advocates that this will bring healthier deals and alternatives to farmers and surprisingly no(mandi)tax or cess could be levied on farm produce by the state governments.
In FPTC act the peasants argues that this will lead to end of APMC as well as Minimum Support Price (MSP). MSP is a minimum price for any sort of crop which is regulated by the Government of India. Secondly, this act states that farmers can sell their produce outside the APMC so farmers can approach other states or countries to sell their produce but what about the transportation cost? and what is the guarantee of price discovery? So, the peasants confidentially believes that with this act the whole game of farming will get into the hands of private players and other corporate houses which create their own autocracy of farming business.
Lets move to second pugnacious law that is Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 which introduce a regional framework for contract farming through an legal agreement between a farmer and a purchaser before the production or rearing of farm. Despite, this act manifests that it will provide a taut reliability to farmers and burgeon their turnover but in response grower said that “this is not a bill this is a will” for them because this will debilitate their negotiation power and they end up with losing their holdings and they will be enslaved by commercial players and other enterprises.
The third villain of the this story is The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act that is an amendment to the existing Essential Commodities Act. This law will detach the commodities such as cereals, pulses, oilseeds, onion, potato and lot more from the list of essential commodities. Principally, there will be no imposition in stock holding on such items except under extraordinary situations such as famine, war, price rise and other natural calamities. Authorities purports that this law will curtail the ways of black marketing and hoarding. But, the grower here argues that this act will jack up the hoardings that will diminish the freshness and originality of the commodities and it will led to illegitimate business by which private entities will make the market as of a monopolistic nature.
As growers said these corporate houses will buy the commodities on lesser prices from them and then drive up the prices of same commodities as they are doing with wheat, corn, honey and lot more commodities by packaging and branding them in a paper of bluff. So, here the private parties will get benefit which makes the whole nation unfit.
All these points paints the same picture as agronomists believes that these farm laws are sugar coated chillies that are compromising with the interests and preferences of the farmers imperfectly.
“We’re farmers not harmers” agriculturists added. But, the authorities and media houses are representing them as a “terrorist” is it a right word for the folk who feeds the whole nation?
Few folk are concur with these acts those who initiate their morning by quaffing green tea and some wheat made meals but now it is questionable that why three organs of government Legislative, Executive and Judiciary ponders that these laws are requisite? If all these three farm laws are against the interests of the whole nation then these statutes must be declared as ultra vires utterly because democracy is “people’s government” that is of the people by the people and for the people.
[Main image by Vox: 'India's huge farmer protests, explained']