Tag: laws in India

Farm Bills and Labour Law Changes: Modi’s Big Gamble in the Middle of a Pandemic

This is not the time to create more paranoia and apprehension among farmers and industrial labour about their future incomes.

Last year, Amitabh Kant, the CEO of Niti Aayog, made a candid admission that big structural reforms such as demonetisation and GST had caused severe disruption in the economy and its growth trajectory, even though such reforms would be beneficial in the long run.

Even before the putative benefits of those disruptive reforms are in sight, the Modi government has chosen to create more disruption in the form of the new farm bills and the changes in the labour laws.

Quite apart from the merit or otherwise of these moves, what is more important is the timing of these new disruptive reforms.

They come in the middle of a pandemic-devastated economy which requires palliative care more than anything else. This is not the time to create more paranoia and apprehensions among farmers and industrial labour about their future incomes when the overall national income has already shrunk 24% and the economy faces massive demand compression.

Structural reforms, even if they are beneficial in the long run, must come at an opportune time when the economic agents are prepared for it mentally and psychologically. They cannot be thrust like the way the new farm laws and proposed labour legislations are being pushed down the throat of farmers and workers.

Also read: The Way Farm Bills Passed in Rajya Sabha Shows Decline in Culture of Legislative Scrutiny

In a democracy, the government must communicate with the people in earnest. Prime Minister Modi, as usual, has begun his communication exercise after committing the act, much like demonetisation.


He told the people of Bihar via video conferencing on Monday that those who are opposing the farm bills are the ones who sat on Swaminathan Committee report all these years. But it was Modi’s own government which told the Supreme Court that recommendations of Swaminathan Committee was not possible to implement.

So is the prime minister being sincere at all in his communication with farmers? No, he is not being honest at all. This is the sole reason why farmers do not believe a word of what this government says.

Members of various farmers organizations stage a protest against the central government over agriculture related ordinances, in Patiala, Monday, Sept. 21, 2020. Photo: PTI

Another example of this mixed messaging is the way farmers were misled these past few years by the government’s commitment to help increase the number of state-run and regulated mandis by 20,000 – simply by converting haats (periodic markets) into primary agriculture markets or small mandis.

Where does this exercise fit into the new farm law framework, one does not know.

This was the recommendation of the Ashok Dalwai committee set up by this government to look at ways of doubling farm income by 2022. The Dalwai Committee relies heavily on an increased mandi infrastructure run by states.

So one does not know what the real intention of the Modi government in suddenly bringing these farm bills in the name of freeing farm markets could be. If anything, farmers suffer the worst effects of free market in India.

Similarly the government has been pushing for radical labour law changes in the middle of the pandemic, again without much discussion with stakeholders. In April, some BJP ruled states pushed for radical changes in labor laws in the name of attracting American and Japanese companies wanting to shift supply chains from China.

Whether labour law changes alone will help achieve this is quite another debate. Quite aside from the merit or otherwise of such reforms, the question to ask is whether to implement them in the middle of the worst global recession in 90 years is advisable.

Also read: Here Are All the Issues that Remain Unresolved in the Draft Code on Wages Rules

Prime Minister Modi seems confident that far reaching changes to agriculture laws and industrial labour legislation can be made without much debate either in parliament or civil society. In the name of big structural reforms to boost the economy, announced along with the Rs 20 lakh crore package in the middle of the COVID-19 lockdown, all rules of democratic conduct are being thrown out of the window.

Agriculture is a state subject and regulation of agri-markets is very much in the domain of the states. Yet states have not been consulted on changes in agriculture laws which seek to bypass the jurisdiction of states in creating new contracts between farmers and corporates.

Some states are contemplating constitutionally challenging the new amendments being made in the name of offering farmers more choice to sell their produce outside some 7,000 odd designated mandis in the country.

Both the new farm laws and labour laws have major implications for the future incomes of farmers and organised industrial labour. The changes in industrial laws aim at allowing full freedom to factories of up to 300 employees to hire and fire workers without seeking any statutory permission.

Until now, this was possible only for factories with up to 100 workers. Some BJP ruled states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have already implemented these harsh provisions to attract new investments.

As part of new labour law contracts, the government is proposing introduction of a standard collective agreement between employees and management which will lay down the rights and obligations of both parties. Under this, the employees can formally raise a collective dispute and negotiate with the management in a formal framework.

However, the rights of the trade union to go on a lightning strike is sought to be curtailed heavily. The standard document lays down terms of employment, termination, compensation, etc.

Representative image of labourers at a lockdown protest in Chennai. Photo: PTI

One common strand in the changes to both farm law and labour law is that they have been hugely welcomed by big business. Corporatisation of agriculture is the new mantra to improve farm productivity when everyone knows the real issues surrounding

Indian agriculture cannot be addressed by corporatisation or other wooly headed ideas around “freeing agri markets”.

Throughout the history of western capitalist development, agriculture has progressively got more support from governments. Businessmen have also talked about new labour law changes as some sort of magic bullet at a time when unemployment in India has touched a 45-year high even before COVID-19 hit the economy so badly.

Also read: ‘Intent Behind Farmer Bills is to Avoid Accountability for Ensuring Fair Price to Producers’

There are other globally driven structural issues, such as relative de-globalisation of trade and investment since 2008, which have caused deterioration in employment quality in different parts of the world. India is not immune.

The fact is that 95% plus of India’s workforce is still in the unorganised sector and one is not sure how the changes to new labour laws will touch them. Yes, it will provide flexibility to companies to freely hire and fire workers and make it easy to shut down businesses within the standard collective agreement that has been proposed between workers and managements of bigger companies.

Overall, the changes in law relating to farmers and industrial workers seem aimed at attracting big capital. There is little evidence that big capital and technology can solve India’s employment problem.

Modi and his advisors have been groping in the dark for six years without being able to address the serious decline in all economic parameters, from employment and income to savings and investment.

It seems Modi feels somewhat cornered and is taking a big gamble with these new reforms in the middle of a pandemic-led chaos. All of it is being done in the name of advancing the interests of farmers and workers.

Also read: No Dialogue with Trade Unions, India’s Labour Laws Are Now a Product of Unilateralism

There is already a wave of protest across India and this will only intensify in the absence of an open and transparent debate. BJP is about to lose an ally in Akali Dal because it has brought these changes by stealth.

One is not sure whether BJP has consulted national trade unions, including its own sister organisation Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, on the new labour law changes. PM Modi is taking a huge risk in pushing these unprecedented changes without proper discussion and debate.

The Way Farm Bills Passed in Rajya Sabha Shows Decline in Culture of Legislative Scrutiny

The farm Bills were passed by a voice vote despite opposition MPs asking for a division vote – which the NDA clearly was not in a position to win.

The country is passing through a deepening COVID-19 crisis caused by failure of the Union government to deal with it through robust public policy measures. This crisis has been preceded by a more lingering crisis manifested in the NDA regime’s calculated denial of scrutiny of legislative proposals in parliament. This process has steadily gained in intensity over the last six years by employing crude majority strength in the Lok Sabha.

On Sunday, things hit a new low when the Bills were passed by a voice vote despite opposition MPs asking for a division, i.e. a recorded vote – which the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) clearly was not in a position to win.

Opposition leaders stage a protest in the Rajya Sabha over suspension of eight MPs over farm Bills, September 21, 2020. Photo: RSTV screengrab via PTI

The stubborn stand taken by the regime in the Rajya Sabha on September 20 against the demand of opposition parties, including the Biju Janata Dal, to refer the farm Bills – The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and the Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 – to a select committee of the House for better scrutiny and examination, is reflective of its unwillingness to subject those Bills to deeper levels of deliberation and consultation, eschewing party perspectives.

Also read: After Eight Opposition Members Suspended, Rajya Sabha Adjourned Until Tuesday

Lack of legislative scrutiny

It is a well-accepted proposition in a parliamentary democracy that lawmaking is a deliberative and consultative process. When the NDA regime wilfully went against the parliamentary convention of referring Bills to the department-related parliamentary standing committees for scrutiny and examination right after it assumed office in 2014, it harshly struck at the root of the deliberative and consultative process.

Neither the farm Bills nor the earlier Bills – such as the Constitution Amendment Bill abrogating Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and Bills concerning Citizenship Amendment, Triple Talaq and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Bill – were referred to any of the committees of parliament for in-depth deliberation on a non-partisan basis by taking into account inputs from a variety of stakeholders.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah speaks on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha. Photo: PTI

In the absence of such in-depth deliberation free from party perspectives, the Bills or legislative proposals suffer from deficit of legislative scrutiny.

The crude majority of the ruling party in the Lok Sabha and the cobbling up of numbers in the Rajya Sabha have enabled it to pass legislations without threadbare discussion and critical analysis of their provisions. As a result of serious deficiency of scrutiny, such Bills when become Acts lack sufficient reasoning and rationale for meriting wider public acceptance.

On January 16, 1948, Mahatma Gandhi had thoughtfully said, “No Cabinet worthy of being representative of a large mass of mankind can afford to take any step merely because it is likely to win the hasty applause of an unthinking public. In the midst of insanity, should not our best representatives retain sanity and bravely prevent a wreck of the ship of State under their management?”

Also read: Agri Reform Bills: What Will the New System, Which Effectively Bypasses APMC Mandis, Look Like?

The lack of sanity which is reflected in pushing numerous legislations in the parliament by the NDA regime from 2014 onwards by avoiding scrutiny on a bipartisan basis in parliamentary committees has become a new normal, negating the very basis of parliamentary democracy.

Sanity demands that before legislations on sensitive subjects are taken up in the parliament for discussion and passage, the ruling regime should necessarily mobilise public opinion in their favour, so that people would accept them willingly and conducive atmosphere would be created for their effective implementation. That is why it is said that better scrutiny leads to better governance.

The farm Bills were neither referred to the concerned department-related parliamentary standing committees nor were they referred to the select committee of the Rajya Sabha as suggested by the opposition parties for scrutiny and examination.

The statement of the agriculture minister – who piloted these Bills in the Rajya Sabha – that there was no need to refer these Bills to select committee of the House because these are small Bills sounds so hollow. In the absence of scrutiny and examination of Bills at the committee level, the vital ingredients involving wider deliberation and consultation are completely absent.

Therefore, the protests by farmers in many parts of India against these Bills, even before these were taken up in the parliament, clearly indicated public resentment against the government neglecting scrutiny and examination of legislations, which aim at deeply impacting their ways of disposal of their agricultural products.

Members of various farmers’ organizations stage a protest over agriculture related ordinances, in Hisar district, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2020. Photo: PTI

It means that these Bills passed by the parliament lack support from the public because its views and opinions were never factored in while formulating them. It clearly establishes the point that lawmaking process when dictated by crude majority of the ruling regime would fail to command the willing support of people.

Lawmaking in pre-independent India

It is instructive that in pre-independent India there were occasions when the colonial authorities used to refer Bills to committees of legislatures for nuanced discussion and deliberation before it became the law of the land.

The most glaring instance was the Champaran Agrarian Bill of 1917 which was framed by the British authorities after Mahatma Gandhi launched his historic Champaran Satyagraha in 1917 to abolish forcible cultivation of indigo on the land of farmers at the dictation of British planters.

At the heart of that momentous Satyagraha remained the deliberation and consultation on the part of Mahatma Gandhi with farmers, British planters, colonial bureaucracy, police and ordinary people. It is instructive that Champaran Satyagraha, which began with Gandhi breaking the law, ended with the framing of law to put an end to forcible plantation of indigo.

Also read: A Blow-by-Blow Account of How the Rajya Sabha Passed the Farm Bills

And when the framing of law began and the Champaran Agrarian Bill was formulated and introduced in the Bihar-Odisha legislative assembly, many members of the assembly demanded for its reference to the select committee of the House for scrutiny and examination. The British government conceded it and even Mahatma Gandhi was requested to examine the Bill.

It is indeed tragic that hundred and three years after Champaran Satyagraha, the NDA government is sabotaging legislative scrutiny of farm Bills and using its crude majority to pass them, disregarding the principles of parliamentary oversight which is indispensable for fine tuning Bills and improving their depth and content.

The passage of the farm Bills in the Rajya Sabha by a voice vote, and the request of the opposition to the deputy chairman to put the Bills to voting, and the failure of the deputy chairman to do so clearly prove that the procedure for passage of the Bills have been violated.

Such procedural lapse is subversion of democracy. The need of the hour is to restore the culture of deliberative and consultative process of lawmaking and salvage the democratic process in parliament – the apex representative body in the constitutional scheme of governance.

S.N. Sahu is a former official of the Rajya Sabha secretariat.