Farmers Movement Archive

Guv Mishra yet to give assent to state farm bills

Jaipur: Over a month had passed after the Congress government in Rajasthan had passed the bills to counter the contentious central legislation on agriculture, but governor Kalraj Mishra is yet to give his assent to them. This could be another flash point between the Congress government and the governor. The three state Bills passed were the Essential Commodities (Special Provisions and Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2020; Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2020; and Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation and Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2020.The Parliament enacted farm laws deregulating the sale of agriculture produce. Farmer unions and the opposition Congress however claimed that the move by the BJP government at the Centre will lead to the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system.The farmers are on an agitation seeking a rollback on the farm laws passed by the Centre which allowed private parties to purchase farm produce directly from the farmers instead of authorized mandis and allowing contract farming by corporates. The Rajasthan Bills mandate that crops will be bought or sold for no less than the minimum support price (MSP) and provide for imprisonment of three to seven years for harassing farmers. Sources said the governor has not given his ascent nor send it back the cabinet for reconsideration. The governor has been keeping the bill pending as there is no time limit for the governor to give his ascent to a bill. On the other hand, the state government is also not in a hurry as it had already appropriated the issue by passing the bill. Now, the ball is in the governor’s court. It could blame the BJP and the governor for the delay.

The Times of India

2020-12-04

Jaipur