Amid protests against the new farm laws, especially in Punjab and Haryana, Congress MP from Kerala T N Prathapan moved the Supreme Court on Monday seeking to declare the Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and related notifications as unconstitutional and illegal.
The 58-year-old MP from Thrissur said the new law providing to monetise agricultural produce of farmers would render nearly 150 million people engaged in farming defenceless against big agricultural corporations, who would wring them dry and cartelise to force farmers to sell their produce at cheaper rates.
Advocating resurrection and strengthening of Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees under the 2003 Act, he said it would ensure no farmer was exploited by intermediaries and that all food produce was brought to a common market to be sold through auction.
"Without the APMCs acting as a protective shield around farmers, the market would ultimately fall to the corporate greed of multinational companies who are more profit-oriented and have no care for the conditions of poverty-stricken farmers who are dependent on farming for their livelihood. The APMCs deterred exploitation of farmers by providing a minimum support price (MSP) which would guarantee that the farmer who comes to the APMC would not leave empty handed," he said.
Prathapan said agriculture in India was characterised by small land holdings and was heavily dependent on weather and vagaries of market demand. "These challenges cannot be addressed by way of monetisation of farmers’ produce to increase their income. Instead, strengthening the existing APMC system by infusing more capital and effective management of MSP is the need of the hour," he added.
Freedom from mandis will benefit farmers: Modi
Explaining the utility of the farm reforms, Prime Minister Narendra Modi cited instances of a large number of farmers who had benefited from being allowed to sell farm produce outside the precincts of APMCs. Dwelling on the farm sector during his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio address, Modi said that farmers had flourished when freed from the restriction of selling at mandis only, adding that they would now have complete freedom to sell.
The PM lauded farmers for strengthening the country’s agriculture sector and said the farm sector played a major role in building a self-reliant India. “The stronger it is, the stronger will be the foundation of a self-reliant India,” he said. He pointed to a rise in incomes of farmers who benefited from innovative practices and options to sell their produce.
The PM said that he had received many letters from farmers and interacted with some groups to know that changes in agriculture, new dimensions and innovations were giving it strength. He cited examples of farmers from Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh who narrated how they had benefited and made bigger profits by selling their farm produce directly to buyers of their choice, in some cases, even five-star hotels.
Modi said similar benefits would now percolate to farmers across the country, where they would be outside of the clutches of middlemen even as they got remunerative prices. “Now, they have got freedom to sell not only fruits and vegetables but whatever they produce - paddy, wheat, mustard, sugarcane - anywhere they get a better price,” he said.
Farmers intensify protest
Protests against the farm laws intensified as a tractor was set on fire near Delhi's India Gate on Monday. Five people, all residents of Punjab, were detained in connection with the incident. "About 15-20 people had gathered around 7.15-7.30 am and tried to set a tractor on fire. The fire has been doused off and tractor was removed. Legal action is being taken in the matter," Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Eish Singhal said
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is likely to lend support to the protests by farmers by leading an agitation in Punjab and will also address a rally, the date and time of which is being finalised, a senior party leader said. He may also join protesting farmers in Haryana if the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government allows him to enter the state.
Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh began a sit-in protest at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of freedom fighter Shaheed Bhagat Singh, on his birth anniversary. This is Singh's first protest against the farm bills, where he is expected to announce more plans to protest the farm legislations.
A dusk-to-dawn bandh call is being followed in Karnataka on Monday by various farmers' organisations, pro-Kannada outfits besides the Opposition parties Congress and the JD(S), protesting the amendments to the APMC and land reforms acts made by the BS Yediyurappa government.
Farmers' organisations continued protests on Sunday even as President Ram Nath Kovind gave assent to all the three contentious farm bills passed by the Parliament on 20 September, a move which had invited the Opposition's ire, fuelling a walkout in the Rajya Sabha and the resignation of BJP ally Shiromani Akali Dal's lone Cabinet minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal's resignation. Leaders of 18 parties had urged him not to sign the farm bills. The move also led to SAD's exit from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Farmers associated with Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee squatted on the Amritsar-Delhi railway track on 27 September, continuing their rail blockade which had started on Wednesday. People from nearby villages brought cooked food and other items for the demonstrators, while community kitchens were set up by local gurudwaras at the protest site. The committee's general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher demanded that all the sitting 13 MPs from Punjab resign from their seats with immediate effect in support of the farmers' demands, adding that BJP leaders would not be allowed to enter the villages of Punjab. The Congress launched its "mass movement" against the government over "anti-farmer, anti-poor and black laws", announcing nearly two months of protests.
