Govt formally rejects draft agri policy, sends reply to Centre

The state government today rejected the Draft National Policy Framework on Agriculture Marketing saying it was an attempt to bring back the contentious provisions of the three farm laws that were repealed in 2021 following a year-long stir by farmers.

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Rejecting the policy, the state government, in its reply to drafting committee convener SK Singh, has also said that agriculture is a state subject under Entry 28 of List II of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. “The Government of India should not come up with any such policy and should leave it to the wisdom of states to frame suitable policies on the subject, as per their concerns and requirements,” says the official letter sent by the Punjab Government.

The government move came on a day when a “kisan mahapanchayat” organised by the SKM at Moga not only rejected the policy, but also gave a clarion call for unity among all farmer unions, akin to the unity forged in 2020, to launch a united and successful protest against the three farm laws.

The draft policy was sent by the Centre to the state government on November 25 last year, asking it to give comments by December 15. Since the draft policy had many contentious provisions, the state government had sought additional time to respond. The state government, which was granted time till January 10 to send its reply, consulted farmers, agriculture experts and commission agents to discuss the policy.

In its reply, it has also pointed out that the minimum support price (MSP) for crops is the most important thing in agriculture marketing for the farmers of Punjab, but the policy is silent on that. It has also been pointed out that there is significant emphasis on promoting private agriculture markets and to dilute the agricultural produce market committees , so as to make them irrelevant, but Punjab will not allow that as it has a dense network of mandis that are serving the farmers well.

Objections have also been raised on capping the market fee at 2 per cent for non-perishable and 1 per cent for perishable commodities, saying it will hit the state efforts to maintain mandi and rural infrastructure.

The issue of the draft policy promoting contract farming; declaring private silos as open market yards to procure grains directly; and capping of commission charges at 4 per cent ad valorem for perishable commodities and 2 per cent for non-perishable commodities has also been objected to.