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Agri bills and Rajya sabha commotion
Indian Central Govt. successfully pushed 3 Farm bills through both the Houses of Parliament last week. Since the ruling NDA led by BJP has a majority in the lower house i.e Lok Sabha the passage of these bills happened without any hiccup there. But when the same bills had to be passed by the higher house i.e Rajya Sabha, where NDA has a thin majority, pandemonium reigned and all hell broke loose. But the Chairman of the house went by voice vote amidst allegations that he chose to ignore the call for division of the house.
Now the opposition is upset not by the farm bills per see but the way it was carried by the Chairman by the Upper house by not allowing them to stall this reform in the garb of discussions et al. Several Agricultural Commissions and Committees incl the Sen Committee and Dr.Swaminathan Comittee over the last 30 years, have strongly suggested on this unshackling of Agri markets across the country. This reform is long overdue. Even Congress Govt. wanted to implement this and it is in their election manifesto. But due to the reversal of roles, now Congress does not want this to be passed by Modi in order to deny him the credit for this. It is nothing but opportunism and blinded by the hatred for Modi ,UPA wants Indian farmers to suffer.
The three reform bills passed and approved by the President are :
1)Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020.:-This bill aims to promote barrier-free interstate and intra-state trade in agricultural produce;
2)Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020:- This is for allowing farmers to engage with processors, aggregators, wholesalers, large retailers and exporters directly;
3)Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020:-to generally liberalise the regulatory environment for the farmers and to free them from the clutches of middlemen.
The twist in the tale which adds spice to the whole drama has been clearly brought out in this article by Sanjay Jha(link) when he says Dr.Man Mohan Singh went on television when UPA was ruling, to assure the farmers that by a similar action of passing the farm bills their lives would be made better and he tried to assuage their hurt feelings. When the agri reforms ordinance was promulgated in May 2020, pl. note the tone and tenor of agri economists like Prof Ashok Gulati who backed these ordinances hailing this as "the 1991 moment "for agri reforms.(link)
People who are now opposing the momentous changes to be ushered through these far-reaching farm bills are those who have vested interests in the continuation of status quo. There are many middlemen who make money and lend/give easy money to politicians try to block these bills. Many of them do not pay income tax by showing that their income is agricultural income. Now this lot is in dire straits and does not want to let go off the golden goose from their hands. By supporting these elements the opposition is revealing their colours to the public scrutiny.
With many assemble elections around the corner, politicians are trying to portray themselves as the saviour of the farmers by misleading the gullible farmers against these reforms. By repeating a lie, that Govt will abolish MSP, they are stoking the farmers' fears and are trying to create panic and chaos among the farmers. This is despite PM Modi assuring on the floor of the Parliament that the MSP mechanism will not be revoked at any point in time in the future.
The farmers must see through these games played by the opposition parties, and understand that more choices for them to market their produce will not set them back both financially as well as socially. They should look at the stories of ITC eChoupal, Mahindra's, Amul's agri ventures, and emulate them by evolving their cooperative community farming to further their dreams in those lines.
When fruits, vegetables and milk are sold liberally without the MSP crutches, farmers must introspect and understand that MSPs help only 6% of the total agricultural output in the country.
Multiple avenues to market their farm output will only lead them to a better future!!
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