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FARM LAWS: A LOST OPPORTUNITY OR A GOOD RIDDANCE? By: Aishwarya Saxena (Lucknow University) Parliament passed the Farm Laws on September 27, 2021. They created a stir across the nation and led to a massive upsurge of farmers. On April 5, 2021, the Supreme Court suspended the laws temporarily. Recently, the laws were repealed. What were the three farm laws? 1) Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020: This act sought to promote barrier-free trade and commerce of agricultural produce outside the premises of markets specified under State Agricultural Produce Marketing legislations. The farmers and traders could enjoy the freedom to purchase and sell agricultural produce. In addition,
The farmers would not be charged any levy for the sale of their products and would not have to bear transport costs. The bill proposes introducing an electronic trading and transaction platform to foster smooth trade electronically. Besides mandis, farmers would have the freedom to do trading at farm gate, cold storage, warehouse, processing units. By engaging in direct marketing, farmers could eliminate the intervention of intermediaries, thereby securing the total price.
Apprehensions: Upon enforcing this law, the farmers feared that Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) could turn redundant, which would imply that the government would no longer procure excess supply at the minimum support prices (MSP). Clarification Procurement at Minimum Support Price will continue Mandis will not stop functioning, and trading will continue as before. Farmers would now have the option to sell their produce at places other than mandis. The e-nam trading system (an online platform for the trade of agricultural produce) will continue in mandis. 2) The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 This act sought to empower farmers to engage with the wholesalers, large retailers, and exporters at a level playing field through a contract farming agreement between the buyer and seller of agricultural produce before the inception of any farming activities. Contract Farming would secure price assurance for farmers.
The market risk would get transferred from the farmer to the sponsor. It would foster the farmers to access better technology and inputs like seeds. It would help increase the farmer's income besides reducing the marketing costs.
