Ordinances passed by Modi government are for their betterment, farmer protests are merely a political stunt. See for yourself:

The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill. It has already passed Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill.

The three bills will now be tabled in Rajya Sabha and become laws after the Upper House also passes them. They will replace ordinances promulgated by the Union government.

KEY PROVISIONS OF THE BILLS:

Key provisions of the proposed legislation are intended to help small and marginal farmers (86% of total farmers) who don’t have means to either bargain for their produce to get a better price or invest in technology to improve the productivity of farms.

The bill on Agri market seeks to allow farmers to sell their produce outside APMC ‘mandis’ to whoever they want. Anyone can buy their produce even at their farm gates. This will affect the middlemen who loot the farmers and are connected with the political parties deep rootedly.

The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, seeks to remove commodities like cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onion and potatoes from the list of essential commodities. It means the legislation will do away with the imposition of stock-holding limits on such items except under extraordinary circumstances such as war and natural calamities.

WHO IS PROTESTING?

Political parties and farm organisations such as the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) and the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), have been protesting against the bills which they believe are designed to help big corporate houses at the cost of farmers.

WHY THE PROTESTS?

The old system might not favour a majority of farmers who could stand to gain by more choices the new legislations propose. On the other hand, the legislations are likely to impact influential ‘commission agents’ in ‘mandis’ who don’t want their grip over farmers to weaken.

The state govts of Punjab and Haryana will be affected most because of loss ‘Mandi Tax’, a good source of revenue. The ‘arhatiyas’ will also loose not only their commissions but also their traditional business, explained officials.”

Arhatiya-farmer ties are indeed close since the former function as informal bankers without collateral in times of need. But the legislation, government officials said, did not do away with the system altogether and instead added an option. The fears of the MSP system being dismantled were incorrect, they said.

The issues and fears raised include end of ‘minimum support price’ (MSP) regime in due course, irrelevance of state-controlled Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) ‘mandis’, risk of losing out land rights under contract farming rule, reduction in price of farm produce due to market domination by big agribusinesses and exploitation of farmers by big contractors through contract farming provisions.

The article has been published via Times Of India and has been left unedited. Only the headline has been changed.