Farm Bills passage huge blow to federalism: Chidambaram

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, September 18

With the Lok Sabha passing farm related bills, the Congress today said the development is a blow to federalism.

In a tweet on Friday, Congress veteran P Chidambaram said, States were not consulted for the bills. The passage of the laws is a huge blow dealt by the BJP government to States’

rights and federalism.”

Chidambaram said farmers of Punjab and Haryana are on the streets protesting. “This captures the distance between the people and the government. The two Ordinances challenge the three pillars of our still-imperfect ‘food security system’. They are (1) MSP; (2) public procurement; and (3) PDS. The grave flaw in the Ordinances is that they do not stipulate that the price which the farmer gets ‘shall not be less than the MSP,” he said.

Chidambaram said farmers in Tamil Nadu have told me that they are selling paddy at Rs 850 to private traders against an MSP of Rs 1,150.

“State government must explain,” he said.