The farm laws and the controversy around it

 

The parliament of India has recently passed two farm bills which were surrounded by controversy. The Hon’ble President of India gave it a nod and the bills turned into acts. The Hon’ble CM of Punjab Capt. Singh had requested the President's office for a meeting with President Kovind, which has been denied. Several states have decided not to implement the law and are in process of making laws to counter that.
The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act 2020 basically allows ‘Contract Farming’ which means farmers can get in a contract or pre-agreement with Agri-firms and corporates about the price of selling before the season.
The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act 2020 allows the farmers to sell the crops across the nation without any restriction.

The troubles are actual and can cause a huge change, in the negative direction, if not regulated properly. The primary concern is that the corporatisation of all the farming sector will be high. Corporates will make contracts hiring top law firms and the average farmer won’t be able to understand and go through it. There might be clauses under ifs and buts which will have the potential to create trouble for the farmers, which can go up to non-purchasing of the yield.

The other issue that came up to my mind is the absence of notified whose sale market or Mandis, which, regulated by the agricultural produce marketing committees had the middleman buy good from farmers for a minimum price. The biggest issue is since the number of buyers will be low, mostly powerful and rich corporates, they will be able to negotiate better and a small farmer will not be able to cut through the cunning words. The second is the lack of transport facility available with the poor farmers to take the goods to the designated point of sale, which is being speculated not to be more than 1 in each district, unlike Mandis. The timely payments, mostly cash was also a great advantage. With the corporates, I am afraid, it will take a long time. And from thousands of middleman to a handful of corporates, the problems and monopoly can be too much in the longer run.

There is a significant loss to the revenue of the state, which came from these mandis. The pandemic which has hit the state revenue hard, and the non-payment of GST dues have added to it. It is important to know, agriculture is a part of the concurrent list, but these laws have been made by the centre.
We all understand that political parties tend to side with the corporates, mostly because of the funding that they give to the political parties. But it shouldn’t be done at the cost of the farmers' livelihood and the future of farming. I hope there is a middle ground of this and a solution that suits the centre, the state and the farmers.