Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on Friday (November 19) at 9 am. During this, he announced the withdrawal of all three agricultural laws. Let us inform you that in protest against these three laws, farmers of many states were standing on the borders of Delhi for the last year.
In this report, we are telling you that what were the three agricultural laws passed in the Lok Sabha on September 17 and why there was a dispute about them.
In this law, a provision was made to remove cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oil, onion and potato from the list of essential commodities. It was believed that due to the provisions of this law, farmers would get the right price, as there would be competition in the market.
Let us inform you that this law of the year 1955 was amended. The main purpose of this law was to control the production, supply and prices of essential commodities to prevent hoarding. The important thing is that from time to time many essential things have been added to the list of essential commodities. For example, during the Corona period, masks and sanitisers were kept as essential commodities.
Under this law, farmers could also sell their produce outside the APMC i.e. Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee. Under this law, it was told that such an ecosystem would be created in the country, where farmers and traders would have the freedom to sell crops outside the market. Under the provision, it was said to promote trade within the state and between two states. Also, there was a mention of reducing the expenditure on marketing and transportation. According to the new law, farmers or their buyers do not have to pay any fees in the mandis.
The main purpose of this law was to get the farmers a fixed price for their crops. Under this, a farmer could make an agreement with a trader even before growing the crop. In this agreement, the price of the crop, the quality of the crop, the quantity and the use of fertilizer etc. were to be included.
According to the law, the farmer would have to pay two-thirds of the amount at the time of delivery of the crop and the rest in 30 days. In this provision was also made that it would be the responsibility of the trader to lift the crop from the field. If one party broke the agreement, it would be fined. The law was believed to empower farmers to engage with the sale of agricultural products, farm services, agribusiness firms, processors, wholesalers, large retailers and exporters.
Farmers' organizations alleged that as soon as the new law is implemented, the agriculture sector will also go into the hands of capitalists or corporate houses, which will harm the farmers.
According to the new bill, the government would control the supply of essential commodities only in exceptional circumstances. Such efforts would have been made during times of famine, war, unexpected price jumps or severe natural calamities. It was mentioned in the new law that action would be taken on hoarding of these things and agricultural products on the basis of prices.
The government will issue an order for this when the prices of vegetables and fruits exceed 100 per cent. Otherwise, the price of non-perishable food grains would have increased by 50 per cent. The farmers said that it was not made clear in this law whether the farmers would get the minimum price outside the market or not.
In such a situation, it may be possible that if there is more production of a crop, the traders will force the farmers to sell the crop at a lower price. The third reason was that the government is allowing the storage of crops, but farmers do not have enough resources to store vegetables or fruits.
