Krishi Bill 2020 - Agricultural Bill Act 2020

The Modi Government passed three agricultural bills in the Lok Sabha, for which there is tremendous opposition. Even parties aligned with BJP are opposing it. The Government is being accused of being anti-farmer. Senior Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned in protest against them. Farmers are opposing these bills, so we will discuss what are these three bills and why these are being opposed.

The Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill 2020:-

The purpose of the proposed legislation is to allow farmers to sell their produce outside the notified Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC). Its goal is to provide remunerative prices to farmers for their produce through competitive alternative trade channels. Under this law, no cess or fees will be charged from farmers on the sale of their produce.

Benifits/Profit:-  This will provide new options for the farmers. They will reduce the cost of selling their produce, helping them get better prices. With this, Farmers of those areas where there has been more production will be able to get better prices by selling their agricultural produce in other deficient regions.

Fears:- If farmers sells their produce outside the registered Agriculture Produce Market Committee, the states will suffer a loss of revenue as they will not be able to receive "Market Duty" (Mandi Shulk). If the entire agricultural trade goes out of the market, the commission agents will be distressed. But more importantly, farmers and opposition parties fear that this may eventually lead to the end of the minimum support price (MSP) based procurement system and increase exploitation by private companies.

Farmers Contract Bill 2020:-

The farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 - One will get the right to contract with agribusiness firms, processors, wholesalers, exporters or big retailers for selling at fixed prices.

Benefits:- With this, the risk that the farmer poses regarding his crop will go towards his buyer with whom he has contracted. Apart from giving them access to modern technology and better inputs, it boosts farmer's income by reducing marketing costs.

Fears:- Farmer's organizations and opposition parties say that the law is designed to suit the big industrialists who wish to dominate the Indian food and agribusiness. This will weaken the bargaining power of the farmers. Apart from this, large private companies, exporters, wholesalers and processors can get an edge in agriculture.

Essential Commodity Bill 2020:-

This proposed law lists agricultural commodities like cereals, pulses, oil seeds, onions and potatoes from the list of essential commodities like War, famine, extraordinary price rise and natural calamity.

Benefits:- Despite the large number of agricultural produce surpluses in the country, farmers have been unable to get a fair price for their produce in the absence of cold storage and processing. In such a situation, whenever there is bumper yield of perishable agricultural produce, the farmers had to suffer heavy losses. Therefore, by amending the essential Commodities Act, Cereals, edible oil, oilseeds,pulses, onions and potatoes have been excluded from this ACT.

Fears:- The Act has been amended in the interest of big companies and big traders. These companies and super markets will buy produce at cheap prices and store it in their big warehouses and later sell it to customers at high prices.