What is Farm Bill
The 2020 Indian farmers' protest is an ongoing protest against the three farm acts which were passed by the Parliament of India in September 2020.
The three laws are the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, which came into effect following the approval of President Ram Nath Kovind.
The bills collectively seek to provide farmers with multiple marketing channels and provide a legal framework for farmers to enter into pre-arranged contracts among other things.
The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 is an act of the Indian Government that permits intra-state and inter-state trade of farmers’ produce beyond the physical premises of Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) market yards (mandis) and other markets notified under state APMC Acts.
The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 is an act of the Indian Government that creates a national framework for contract farming through an agreement between a farmer and a buyer before the production or rearing of any farm produce.
The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 as part of the 2020 Indian farm reforms. This states that stock limit will be imposed only under exceptional circumstances such as famine or other calamities. There will be no stock limit for processors and supply chain owners based on their capacity and for exporters based on the export demand. It would also end some punitive measures. It will also deregulate agriculture produce such as pulses, onion, potato and cereals, edible oils, and oilseeds, with the aim of realizing better prices for farmers.
It allows the Government of India to delist certain commodities as essential, allowing the government to regulate their supply and prices only in cases of war, famine, extraordinary price rises, or natural calamities. The commodities that have been deregulated are food items, including cereals, pulses, potato, onion, edible oilseeds, and oils. These can only be regulated in the extraordinary circumstances previously mentioned, by imposing limits on the number of stocks of such items that can be held by persons. The Ordinance states that government regulation of stocks will be based on rising prices, and can only be imposed if there is a 100% increase in retail price (in the case of horticultural produce) and a 50% increase in retail price (in the case of non-perishable agricultural food items). These restrictions will not apply to stocks of food held for public distribution in India.
Why is protest Farmers fear that the laws enacted at the Center will abolish the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system. They feel that this will directly benefit big businessmen and reduce the real price of their production. But in reality, there are no such provisions. It is evident from history that there is a political reason behind every protest. The real loss from this bill is that of 'mandis' and 'commission agents' of states. But the distorted form of bills presented to the farmers makes them realize that it will harm them. As a result of this, farmers are on the road in their critical agricultural time and this has caused great damage to the economy of the country.
Adverse effect of the Protest
The farmers had to help the country to overcome the damage caused by the epidemic, but they are causing serious damage to the economy of the country.
The unnecessary gathering in COVID-19 period will ruin the entire efforts made by the countrymen during the lock-down.
Whatever has been happening in the country for the last few years is not a good sign for such a large democracy and a developing nation. Slowly and unknowingly, we are moving towards a direct democracy which is never beneficial to our nation.
For any issue we have many other options to resolve it but we do not want to select them. I do not understand how, while struggling on the streets, injuring peace and tranquility and disturbing law and order represent civilized society.
If this practice is continued, we will soon have dire consequences.
Demand of the protest.
Demonstrators are demanding the withdrawal of all three laws enacted, as well as the Electricity (Amendment Bill) 2020 to be withdrawn.
They are also demanding that the rules against stubble burning be abolished for them.
Government's intention behind agricultural laws According to the government, this is a major reform that will remove middlemen and allow the entire money into the pockets of farmers. This will remove every restriction for farmers and allow them to produce more and earn more.
Theoretically there is no harm in it and hope that it is practically possible. And if it will be successful in the ground reality then it will indeed prove to be a blessing for the farmers.
Legal Reaction over ongoing protest
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that the farmers protest in and around Delhi could soon snowball into a national issue and the top court is, therefore, mooting formation of a committee to hold talks and settle the matter amicably.
The Court was hearing two petitions seeking removal of farmers protesting at the Delhi -NCR borders against the recently passed Farm Acts.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian also observed that the talks between Central government and farmers representatives was not yielding the desired results.
"Mr. Mehta (Solicitor General Tushar Mehta) we will tell you what we are planning to do. We will form a committee to resolve the dispute. It will have members of Bharatiya Kisan Union, Government of India and other farmer organizations. We will ask farmer organizations to be also a part of the committee, as it will soon become a national issue," CJI Bobde said.Adverse effect of it on Judicial system
Always the Supreme Court needs to interfere in unnecessary issues due to our negligent actions.
Despite the heavy burden on India's courts, we always go there with unnecessary issues. Which delays the needy to get justice and later we say that "justice delayed is justice denied". We should be careful about this and try to help our judicial system to overcome the burden in place of increasing its burden.
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