Amritsar letters: Take time, gather your thoughts and then act

Govt should really reconsider

The theme of the open house is such that it cannot be answered in 200 words rather it is a 200-page topic requiring a thorough rethink. One wonders why government is in need of such a change against the well-established norms, and that too, at a time when the whole country is engulfed by the virus. The government has made the mistake of choosing a failed free market structure from the advanced countries over India’s successful ‘mandi pattern’. The move will favour big crony capitalists at the cost of public enterprises, farmers and labour of India. The Bills will also adversely affect India’s federal structure and impinge state government’s jurisdiction. Without rushing for its implementation, the government should reconsider the same and after satisfying all the stakeholders should make and implement the law. Moreover, it is relaxing the lockdown with certain restrictions. Where are these advisories? It is responsible for all the mush up just to fulfill the ego and make use of absolute majority. Rather we are moving from democratic norms to dictatorial approach – absolute majority is harmful for democracy. Even under the existing set up, seeds and chemicals are provided by the corporate and public sector and no action is taken in case of poor performance or its ineffectiveness. The real problem is that Indian agriculture has become a high cost enterprise even at constant prices. Need of the hour is to decline the cost of production at constant prices to save the agriculture. None of the political parties discusses the real problem. Had these parties been really interested to uplift the agriculturalist out of the web cycle, they would have shed light on the real problem and provide solution to the problem. Dr Gursharan Singh Kainth

It’s no good for farmers

“The three farm Bills are anti-farmer. The one on essential commodities removes all cereals, pulses, oilseeds, potato and onion from trade restrictions and price control; this will ultimately benefit only the middlemen and traders but not the farmers. The new Bills have given a free hand to private corporates to exploit them. The farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, aims to open up agricultural marketing outside notified ‘mandis’ for farmers, now private companies will establish private ‘mandis’ which will not be government regulated. The provision on dispute resolution does not sufficiently safeguard farmers’ interests. It provides that in case of a dispute arising between the farmer and a trader, the parties may seek a mutually acceptable solution by filing an application to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, who shall refer it to a Conciliation Board for facilitating the settlement of the dispute. This too can be misused against them. These laws make no mention whatsoever about the Minimum support Price (MSP) which is the lifeline of poor farmers and their key to survival. It will make the small farmers vulnerable to the big sharks, where market forces will control the pricing and marketing mechanism and these helpless farmers will be left running from one trader to another to sell their little produce season after season, with no bargaining power to demand or get the price they deserve. CS Saanya Aggarwal

Bills will live up to the billing

The reforms in agricultural sector were long overdue and the proposed farm Bills is a step in right directions to increase the agriculture income of vast section of farmers. If free market concept is a success in every core sectors of national economy, why not try it on the agriculture sector? Farmers are being misled by lobby of every political party with their vested interests and eyes on state elections. Big landlords and commission agents kept the gullible farmers in their financial shackles to reap rich gains through purchase of their harvests at low throwaway prices. But with passing of these Bills, farmers are free to sell their products in intra-state pan-India market at higher sale price, the payment of which is mandated in three days. Farm laws will likely free the farmers from clutches of commission agents. Income from agriculture produce is bound to see a rise. It is not the farmers but big landlords, commission agents’ nexus whose financial stakes are at risk propelling them to lead to the current protests. Anil Vinayak

Farmers’ grouse is justified

The farming community is called the backbone of the Indian economy. However, it is being treated shabbily as demonstrated by the passage of three contentious farm Bills in a tearing hurry without any discussions and debates. The Bills are blatantly anti-farmer. They are rightly up in arms against it as they have been imposed upon them in a dictatorial manner. The farmers want profitable sales of their produce in the form of MSPs to be a legal right but the Bills are threatening to abolish MSPs. They contend that it will pave way for big monopolies of the private sector and be as bad as the current cartelisation of mandis severely affecting procurement system. Besides it is going to lead to a replication of old structure outside mandis and will create two market spaces with two sets of rules. Moreover, it is a brazen act of intrusion into states” jurisdiction which the Centre has initiated under the cover of Covid-19. Farmers aver that mandis which are ages-old trusted platform to sell their produce will be done away with. They are justified in opposing the Bills tooth and nail. Although the Centre asserts that the Bills seek to free agriculture trade from all restrictions, it doesn”t cut much ice with the farmers. The plea that the Bills will open the farm sector to more competition, modernisation of supply chain enabling bigger agri business to engage with farmers directly and creating seamless access to fragmented markets, disastrously failed to convince the farmers. The farmers also pooh-poohed the Centre”s contention that it will allow barrier-free inter-state and intra-state trade of primary agricultural commodities. Hence, the Centre ought to have given farmers a patient hearing. Rather than thrusting its arbitrary will upon farmers, it should have involved them in decision-making that directly impacts them. There is no guarantee that the private players will buy farmers” produce at the MSP when the Centre itself is slinking away from it. The government miserably failed to allay the fears of the farmers. To leave them at the mercy of exploitative private parties does not augur well, if the government allegedly wants to double their income by 2022. So, it must rethink to pacify the agitating farmers whose grouse is justified. Tarsem S Bumrah

Bills full of nonsense

The farm Bills have fuelled protests from the farming community that just refuse to die down. The protests are being helmed by farm outfits from across Punjab, with about a dozen farmer leaders leading from the front. It aims at opening up agricultural sale and marketing outside the notified Agricultural Produce Market Committee or APMC mandis for farmers. It removes barriers to inter-state trade and provides a framework for electronic trading of agricultural produce. It removes cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onion and potatoes from the list of essential commodities. Some sections have raised fear that this will compromise on food security. They must know the Food Corporation of India (FCI) will continue to stock essential commodities such as wheat and rice, ensuring that India’s food security isn’t hit. While the Opposition has echoed in on farmers’ ears alleging that the new legislations will benefit only big farmers and hoarders, the government said the provisions will be beneficial to all: farmers, consumers and traders. Wholesale markets, which play a crucial role in ensuring timely payments to small farmers, would lose their relevance and even gradually disappear if large buyers were allowed to buy directly from growers. Nearly 85 per cent of India”s poor farmers own less than 5 acres of land, and find it difficult to directly negotiate with large buyers. Without offering an alternative arrangement to small cultivators, such as private markets or direct-purchase centers, the new rules do not make any sense. The contract farming Bill provides for a national framework on farming agreements. A big advantage of contract farming is that investments in the farm will come from the agri-business company. But, how will a small-scale farmer acquire contract with these agri-business companies? With passing of these laws, the government should keep all these things in mind and provide income security to all small farmers. Amarjit Kalsi

Opinion of states matter

Of course, the farmers are justified. Verbal sayings have no value in the court of law. Farmers cannot approach the courts asking for fair compensation because the Prime Minister verbally said something on camera. Even demonetisation was a success according to the PM. A simple sub-clause stating corporates cannot purchase below the MSP would have not created this situation in the first place. If the Centre is so sure that the Bill was legitimate, they should have asked for division in the Rajya Sabha when the opposition had requested it. Passing it hastily shows how desperate the government is. World of private sector never cares for anything but profits. A clause for hoarding in corporates could also have been added to not create artificial demand and supply. Farmers were never dead against the intermediaries. According to an RBI survey, farmers prioritise reliable weather forecasts and better storage facilities than removal of intermediaries. Agriculture being a state subject should have the voice of the states while being framed. A diverse nation, the Centre should consider and frame policies after consulting the states. Aakarshan Batish

What’s the benefit of such reforms?

Farmers are not at all justified. And the government thinks it has brought about a transformation in favor of farmers but what is the benefit of such reforms if farmers are not happy and protesting all over India. Farmers were joined by ”arhitiyas” – or the commission agents at mandis – during their protests in many states. These Bills will only benefit the corporates. So, the government should rethink on these Bills. Laws are for people and if they are the ones who are protesting then for whose benefit have they been passed? It should discuss the matter extensively with the farmers. Rohit Kumar Sehdev

The laws pronounce doomsday

It is a plan of the Centre to disrupt whole of Punjab’s economy. All of Punjab needs to come together. FCI will be withdrawn from Punjab, then, MSP will not matter like MSP for maize is Rs1,850 per quintal but as FCI does not purchase maize, it is selling for Rs600 per quintal. Similarly rice and wheat will sell for Rs1,200. Like demonetisation brought economy down by 3 per cent and caused loss of life in thousands. Similarly, the lockdown brought down economy by 30 per cent and caused loss of life in lakhs. These farm laws will, too, cause economy of nation and loss of life in crores to states like Punjab, Haryana and UP, Maharashtra to. Take note my words: all businesses of clothes, ration stores, brick-kilns will come to a standstill and people shall starve. Like BJP is finding difficult to start economy after the lockdown, similarly India will be a beggar to the whole world and pictures like Sudan undernourished people and people dying of hunger will be common. Anjali Midha

Laws not so farmer-friendly

Strangely, an act which is said to be in favour of a community is being opposed by the so-called beneficiaries. The Centre must think about it. At present, lot of politicians try to make us cry or laugh, but never make the people think on any subject. The government must give its serious attention to the following points:

First, Aadtiya doesn”t acts simply as a middleman to sell the farm products but comes forward to help the farmer at the time of need. So before getting the Aadtiya out of the system, the government must provide an alternative to farmer community to meet their financial requirements. Second, it claims that MSP will remain in force and mandi board will work as usual. But with the entry of private players, fate of the AIR, DD, BSNL, Air India etc, is a well known fact that what happened to them. To begin with privatisation, the players may provide lucrative rate of farm products; much better then MSP, but with passage of time when mandi board will become a lose-making proposition – exploitation follows afterwards. Similarly, the uneducated farmers would not be able to know the hidden clauses in the contract farming agreements. Importance of the Essential Commodity Act would be known only when hoarding takes place in case of natural calamities. Thirdly, in the present debate why private players are not participating? They won”t, because in the past they took government land at cheap rates for educational institutions and hospitals but never provided free services to the poorer section of the society. As they were not doing anything substantially in social sector; that is why the Corporate Social Responsibility Act was made which outlined that it was mandatory to step up. The central government must act immediately to clear all the doubts about their so-called farmer-friendly laws. Harsh N Johar