North India farmers protest

New Delhi: The urgent anger among farmers protesting against three agriculture-related ordinances that the Narendra Modi government introduced this year in June is growing, as can be seen by the large number of farmers out on the roads in various states despite the COVID-19 pandemic still raging.

Farmers across India are accusing the Centre of gradually doing away with the protection of Minimum Support Price (MSP) and of leaving farmers at the mercy of big traders who are moving towards agriculture in a big way.

‘Centre wants to make industrial workers out of farm labour’

Talking to The Wire, Rakesh Tikait, the leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, said, “Gradually, every effort is being made to push big business towards the agricultural sectors so that the agricultural labour becomes available for industrial work.”

He said the farmers are seeking a roll back of the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 for a variety of reasons.

“The foremost is that now the protection of MSP is being taken away. We have repeatedly urged the Centre to ensure that as inter-state borders are opened to allow for sale of agricultural produce in any part of the country and that the farmer is given the guarantee that the produce will not sell for less than MSP anywhere,” he said.

‘No assurance from Centre on retaining MSP’

But, he said, let alone give an assurance, the Centre has not even been forthcoming about discussing the issues at hand. “We have tried several times to hold discussions. But as with the farmers insurance scheme – in which they did not discuss anything till after two years of passage of the scheme – this time too no one is coming forward to discuss the concerns being raised.”

Tikait said farmers, apart from holding protests in places like Chandigarh and Muzaffarnagar, have also been protesting in Delhi – on September 14 and thereafter – but there has been no response from the government.

Referring to how a businessman who used to provide audio systems for BJP’s rallies in Muzaffarnagar has now set up a sugarcane crusher to benefit from the changed norms, Tikait said this is only a prelude of what lies ahead. “We will soon have all kinds of big business coming in to set up farm related projects. This would also result in hoarding of produce in large quantities and their sale when the prices are high. As such, while the businesses will gain from the margins, the farmers will lose out on the benefits of high price of produce,” he said.

Also read: Haryana Farmers Protest Against Three Farm Ordinances, Face Police Lathicharge

‘Changes will promote contract farming’

Contract farming is about to make its presence felt in a big way, he said. “Already, the farmer is burdened by the high cost of seeds, power, fertilisers and transport. They will soon start giving out their land on contract to big players and the excess agriculture labour would in this way get released for working in industries at low wages.”

Thousands of farmers in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and several other states are on the roads to protest against three farm ordinances which were presented in the Lok Sabha on Monday. They have been pointing out that the new laws are anti-farmer and would destroy agriculture and even compel many distressed farmers to die by suicide.

‘Will end existing grain market system’

Another BKU leader Sahab Singh has been quoted as saying that the changes are aimed at ending the existing traditional grain market system. This is also a reason why many commission agents have also been opposing the move as they fear it would take their business away. At the moment, these agents often make advance payments to the small farmers before the cropping starts and the amounts, which act as short term loans, get adjusted at the time of sale of the produce.

On the other hand, the Centre has stated that the ordinances will provide barrier-free trade to farmers and enable them enter into farming agreements with private players prior to production.

The farmers are evaluating the impact of the changes to see if the new provisions hold promise or will simply push them into greater hardship and penury.

Also read: Centre’s Self-Registration Facility Led to Rs 110-Crore PM Kisan Scam, Says TN CM

Political parties unite to oppose move

The issue has also acquired political overtones with Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh openly opposing the move and saying that “these ordinances will cause irreparable damage to farming in the state”. He spoke of how the Punjab Assembly had, on August 28, passed a resolution urging the Centre to withdraw these ordinances.

Sensing the resentment towards the ordinances among farmers, Lok Sabha MP and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Badal also said yesterday that the Centre did not consult his party, despite it being an NDA-ally, before introducing these ordinances.

“In June, the Central government brought three ordinances related to farmers. Before bringing these ordinances, there should have been discussions with farmers and political parties. The majority of our workers are from farmer families,” he said, adding that “when the ordinance was brought in cabinet, our representative in the cabinet raised queries. These ordinances are affecting Punjab the most. The farmers of Punjab did not get their answers.”

New Delhi: Hundreds of farmers and arhtiyas (middlemen) associations protested against three agriculture ordinances of the Central government at Pipli near Haryana’s Kurukshetra. As they marched towards the grain market, police lathicharged them for defying the administration’s warnings during a raging coronavirus pandemic, news reports said.

The demonstration was held by Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) who blocked the national highway-44 to protest against the central ordinances for the agriculture sector, the reports added.

The Union Cabinet had passed three agriculture ordinances in June: the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, and an amendment in the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.

The government says that the three ordinances will create a farmer- and trader-friendly environment where they will be able to sell and purchase agricultural produce. However, farmers allege that in the name of reforms, the government is planning to discontinue the MSP regime.

Also read: Centre’s Self-Registration Facility Led to Rs 110-Crore PM Kisan Scam, Says TN CM

As per an Indian Express report, former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda expressed outrage over the police lathicharging protesters and said, “By bringing three anti-farmer ordinances during the coronavirus pandemic, the government has forced the farmer to come out on the streets and protest. No ordinance can be in the interest of the farmers unless it guarantees minimum support price of crops and there is a discussion in Parliament. If the government wants to make any changes in the system, it will have to guarantee the protection of the mandi and the MSP system.”

A Hindustan Times report quoted Haryana agriculture minister J.P. Dalal as saying that the state government is committed to provide minimum support price (MSP) for all the crops of the farmers in the state.

BKU state unit chief Gurnam Singh said, “The voice of farmers has to be raised, we want withdrawal of these anti-farmer ordinances, which will destroy the peasants and leave them at the mercy of market forces.”

Similar protests were held in Haryana and Punjab earlier.

Also read: Centre’s Advisory on Migrant Workers Ignores Existing Laws, States’ Need for Funds: Experts

What are the three Ordinances?

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in May introduced an amendment to the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 as part of a COVID-19 relief measure. The Union Cabinet passed it in June and is now an ordinance. However, the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 will lapse if it doesn’t get cleared by the parliament in the upcoming session.

Under the amended Act, essential food commodities such as cereals, pulses, edible oil and sugar will be deregulated. Simply put, there will be no storage limit or movement restriction for the aforementioned commodities. Only under emergency situations, such as a natural calamity when production collapses, would limits on stocks be imposed.

Under the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, traders have to mandatorily pay farmers on the same day or within maximum three working days. It allows inter-state and intra-state trade of farmers’ produce outside mandis. The Ordinance also allows electronic trading of “scheduled farmers’ produce” in a “trade area”.

“Trade area” is defined under Section 2(m), as “any area or location, place of production, collection and aggregation including — farm gate; factory premises; warehouses; silos; cold storages; or any other structure or place, from where trade of farmers’ produce may be undertaken…” APMC mandis and private market yards have been excluded from the definition of trade area.

Basically, it aims to end the monopoly of the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) and allow anyone to buy and sell agricultural produce. A person will be penalised up to Rs 10 lakh for non-compliance of provisions under the Ordinance.

The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance allows farmers to sell their agricultural produce to private players. This Ordinance also attracts a penalty if a business fails to pay farmers on time.

Also read: PM Eco Advisor Says GDP Could Fall Upto 9% This Year, Calls for Stimulus Financed by Gold Amnesty

Experts’ opinion

Last month, N. Sai Balaji, research scholar at the CIPOD, wrote in The Wire about the three agricultural reforms and said that India needs a state-supported scheme that ensures income for damaged crops during a drought, flood or a cyclone. The analytical piece also pointed to the advantages private players will get through changes in the Essential Commodities Act. The changes, if passed by parliament, will neither benefit the consumer nor the producer, and will give corporates the legal right to hoard and take advantage of high prices.

Experts have said that the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance has been touted as a reform that will give farmers freedom to sell their produce anywhere in the country. However, currently farmers are already free to sell anywhere. Experts have maintained that farmers’ freedom to sell was never in question and calling the reform historic obscures real intervention.