Three bills, namely The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (ECA), The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 (FAPAFS), and The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 (FPTC), were passed through both houses of legislation on Friday and recently got the nod from President Kovind as well. However, the reception to both the material and method of the bills came under fire from the opposition and farmers alike.
Photo Credits: PTI
During Rajya Sabha proceedings to introduce, discuss and vote on the bills, opposition leaders, inter alia, Trinamool Congress’ Derek O’Brien vehemently objected to the bills being passed for the sake of the farmers but were faced with indifference from the ruling party. In retaliation, many opposition leaders stormed the house with Derek O’Brien accused of tearing the rulebook in front of the chairman claiming it was the “brutal murder of the parliamentary democratic system” post facto and provided evidence through the censorship of Rajya Sabha TV. Despite such ardent challenges to the bills, even from allies, it cleared both houses of parliament.
Following this, objections to the bills took up the limelight amongst citizens as well. Farmers took to protesting in the capital and many states across the country, and parties issued statements against the proceedings in the Rajya Sabha and the substance of the bill, the largest blow coming from Akali Dal, a long-term ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), exiting the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in protest. Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to assert that the government was ‘muting democratic India’ by silencing members of parliament and later suspending them, and not consulting opposition to the ideas before passing the same.
Farmers, however, took offence to the content of the bills. The existing mechanisms in agriculture involve government-run Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs) and middlemen who charge exorbitant commissions for trade with these mandis. Farmers have, on many occasions, highlighted the problems with these middlemen and mandis including their inefficiency, politicisation, lack of transparency and the involvement of many violent cartels in the same. The bills proposed aim to eliminate these APMCs and middlemen in the trade process by allowing farmers to directly sell to private actors including end-consumers and the government promised to maintain the practice of Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) albeit the latter absent in the text of the bills.
Farmers, notwithstanding of their opposition of APMCs in the past, have taken to the streets due to fears of exploitation from private actors due to the gradual abolishment of APMCs and are worried it could pave the way to abolishing MSPs as well. Some also want to retain the involvement of middlemen as they provide them with information about the markets and the occasional provision of credit to in-need farmers by these middlemen. They also felt that they were not sufficiently consulted before the bill was drafted and there was a lack of communication between farmers organisations, state and district governments, and the centre. Reforms also aim to bypass state governments due to the abolishment of APMCs although regulation of agricultural markets is a state subject.
The protests greatly intensified on Monday as five people identified as Punjab natives set fire to a tractor at Rajpath, near India Gate in the nation’s capital. The fire has since been doused and the five people were detained by the police, and the incident was filmed and broadcast by the Punjab Youth Congress. Apart from this, we observed a nation-wide bandh owing to protests across the country by 25 farmers’ organisations. Protests ranged from Dehli-NCR to Maharashtra - where over 50,000 farmers took to the streets in resistance to the bills. We also observed protests in parts of Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. Karnataka is also home to large-scale protests where a state-bandh was supported by JD(S) and the state Congress leaders. Even in the wake of such widespread protests, the bills got the nod from President Kovind hence marking their establishment as the law of the land hereon.
Photo Credits: Special Arrangement
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