Were the laws a missed opportunity to address the deep-seated issues faced by millions of India’s struggling farmers and consumers?
Recently, a BJP Member of Parliament talked of resurrecting the three national Farm Laws. Faced with criticism from the opposition parties, a spokesperson of the BJP clarified that ‘her statement does not represent the party view’. Modi – The government doesn’t intend to bring back these laws.
What were those laws?
Enacted in September 2020, the most far-reaching of these laws was the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020. It allowed the Centre to regulate inter-State trade and intra-State trade, providing for freedom of choice to the farmer or trader to conduct trade and commerce while allowing traders to purchase specified farm commodities directly from farmers anywhere in the country, even outside the designated State APMCs (Agricultural Produce Market Committee).
The second law was the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020. It provided a legal framework for farmers to engage with processors, aggregators, large retailers etc in a ‘fair’ and ‘transparent’ manner.