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Three farm laws to be rolled back, says PM Modi, apologizes to India

EconomyThree farm laws to be rolled back, says PM Modi, apologizes to India

Three farm laws will be rolled back says Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urges the farmers to leave the protest sites.

The government will repeal three farm laws, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday after over one year of agitation over farm laws. Over six hundred farmers lost their lives since the start of the protests of over 333 days weathering freezing bone-chilling winters, hail, rain, blazing heat also in the midst of the pandemic and others died through shootouts, violence, and were mowed over by perpetrators who resisted their protests.  Scorned and mocked, called Jihadis, Khalistanis, and anti-national, they bore the brunt of abuses patiently, but kept on persistently with their protests.

On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the Centre will repeal the three controversial laws which were passed in Parliament in September last year.   The Prime Minister apologized and said that the government “failed to convince a section of farmers” over the farm laws. He said the three contentious laws will be repealed during this month’s Parliament session.

He said, “I apologise to India and with a true and pure heart that may be… we were not able to convince farmers [over the farm laws]. I’m here to declare that we have decided to repeal the three farm laws…We will complete all the formalities during the Parliament session that begins this month,” PM Modi said in his address to the nation on Friday.

PM Modi also urged farmers “to return home to their families and let’s start afresh”.

While addressing the nation, PM Modi said, “Whatever I did, I did for farmers. What I’m doing is for the country. With your blessings, I never left out anything in my hard work. Today I assure you that I’ll now work even harder so that your dreams and the nation’s dreams can be realized.”

“We worked to provide farmers with seeds at reasonable rates and facilities like micro-irrigation, 22 crore soil health cards. Such factors have contributed to increased agricultural production. We strengthened Fasal Bima Yojana, brought more farmers under it,” PM Modi said.

“To ensure that farmers get the right amount for their hard work, many steps were taken. We strengthened the rural infrastructure market. We not only increased MSP but also set up record government procurement centres. Procurement by our government broke the record of past several decades,” PM Modi said.

Parliament passed the three farm laws in September last year. They had first come in the month of June as the three Ordinances before being approved by Parliament during the Monsoon Session by a voice vote.

These laws are — The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, The Farmer’s (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act.

The protests over these farm laws have been storming in India for over one year now.  While the Center tried to downplay the intensity of protests, stating they were limited to only Punjab farmers, most of the Indian farmers stood in solidarity with the farmers.  Thousands of farmers have been camping near Delhi border areas, demanding the repeal of these laws. Finally, the Government has now decided to withdraw the laws that have been caused conflict between farmers and the government.

What Are The Three Farm Laws?

The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act provides for setting up a mechanism allowing the farmers to sell their farm produce outside the Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs). Any license-holder trader can buy the produce from the farmers at mutually agreed prices. This trade of farm produces will be free of mandi tax imposed by the state governments.

The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act allows farmers to do contract farming and market their produces freely.

The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act is an amendment to the existing Essential Commodities Act. This law now frees items such as foodgrains, pulses, edible oils and onion for trade except in extraordinary (read crisis) situations.

Why The Farmers Rejected The Three Farm Laws:

The Laws will eliminate the APMC system (Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee): Their products would fall directly into the hands of big corporates. Under this bill, the trade outside the APMC Mandis is unregulated.

These laws allow long storage of food: The food would eventually spoil, thus farmers would have to sell them at throwaway prices.

There is no guarantee of MSP (Minimum Support Prices): This is because the bill is controlled by cooperates and will always fluctuate.

There is no liability under this law: Under this law, it is not mandatory for a company to make a written contract with the farmer for any contract farming. So, even if the company violates the terms of the contract, the farmer cannot prove it. Farmers will be forced to bribe their way out of things. If no money, they fear their lands will be taken. Storage will destroy crops so forced to sell quickly at higher rates.

The greatest fear is the farmers will become slaves to the corporates: Many poorer farmers will be forced to sell lands and give up farming if they cannot keep up with the demands of the corporates, for the laws favor the corporates over the farmers. It has been proven that while government agencies will take better care of the people, most corporates fleece the common citizen to maintain their opulent lifestyles.

Cooperates who seek to make the maximum profit will make food prices go up for everyone: Since the law stands at an advantage with corporates, food costs would ultimately affect everyone. It is not only the cost of food but all goods and commodities will go up as everything is invariably interconnected in trade.

Of note, the three farm laws evoked the greatest protest in world history.

Perhaps the Prime Minister perceiving that the Uttar Pradesh election would be lost due to the three controversial farm laws rolled them back because the rallies were empty and the BJP (The Bharatiya Janata Party) could not even step into Western Uttar Pradesh

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