The new farmer’s bill has really made across India farmers upset especially to the farmers of Northern India
Two agrarian bills have been passed in the Rajya Sabha amidst heavy uproar. The first is the Farmers’ Product Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill 2020 (The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020) and the second is the Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Price Assurance Agreement and Agriculture Agreement on Services Bill-2020. The purpose of the proposed legislation is to allow farmers to sell their produce outside the notified Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) ie mandis. Its goal is to provide remunerative prices to farmers for their produce through competitive alternative trade channels. Under this law, no cess or fees will be charged from farmers on the sale of their produce.
While talking to few experts and farmers in Haryana, they said If farmers are buying their produce outside the APMC, then the states will suffer a loss of revenue as they will not be able to receive ‘mandi duty’. If the entire agricultural trade goes out of the mandis, the commission agent will be unal. But, even more importantly, farmers and opposition parties fear that it could end the final minimum support price (MSP) -based procurement system and increase exploitation by private companies.
These farmers fear that the government will gradually end the tradition of MSP and government procurement. Add to that many farmers in these states and the infrastructure is very strong for government procurement. The government has fixed the MSP for 23 crops. However, with the help of Food Corporation of India, They can purchase only wheat and rice. They have also been shopping for pulses for some time. In such a situation, farmers feel that gradually this purchase will also be stopped.
As told you, the government only purchases wheat and rice at MSP. The purchase of pulses and other crops is negligible. This is the reason that many farmers of Punjab and Haryana cultivate only wheat and rice. The area under pulses and oilseeds has reduced significantly in this round. In Punjab and Haryana, water is being used so much in farming that groundwater has become very bad. These farmers only do these two crops in order to earn more profit.
As per Team Humari Baat and RTV’s report, It is false news that only rich farmers are against the bills. All the farmers (Big, medium, and small scale) are against these two bills.
As per them, By today only “Aarties” were ruling them but from now the private industry will make them slave. Many small and medium scale farmers say that It will decrease the interest of young farmers to choose it as profession because big farmers will not hire them in contract and capitalists will hire differently. It will increase unemployment.
BJP’s continuous arbitrariness initially against minorities, then with students for examination and now with Farmers, has made people unhappy with the Modi government. BJP needs to improve awareness methods before and after passing a Bill. The awareness should be based upon how easily community or people are able to understand the consequences of the Bill.
