Farmers Movement Archive

Government willing to amend some provisions of new farm laws

NEW DELHI/BATHINDA: After another marathon round of discussions on Thursday, representatives of government and farmers agreed to meet again on Saturday even as the Centre indicated it could consider measures such as equal taxes for APMC mandis and private markets, registration of private traders and allowing higher courts of appeal in contract farming disputes. The mood at the end of the fourth round of talks, however, was not very optimistic as the Centre’s negotiators — agriculture minister Union Narendra Singh Tomar and food and consumer affairs minister Piyush Goyal — plainly indicated to the farm unions that repealing the three new agri laws was unlikely, while the unions continued to insist on scrapping the legislations. Yet, both sides agreed to meet again and the ball may be in the Centre’s court in spelling out just what is possible as the farmers listed several issues with regard to the reforms that aim to permit agriculturists to sell outside the APMC system and provide for contract farming and do away with stock limits under the Essential Commodities Act. The Centre also agreed to discuss not allowing anyone having a Permanent Account Number (PAN) to trade in crops out of the jurisdiction of APMCs and making registering of dealers mandatory. ‘Will consider equal tax for private, government-regulated mandis’The government does not seem ready for it (repealing laws) and agreed for some amendments. They have called us for the next round of meeting on December 5. We will decide tomorrow whether to attend the meeting on Saturday or not,” farmers’ union representatives Jagmohan Singh and Surjit Singh Phool said. Broadening the scope of the dispute resolution mechanism under contract farming provisions, which currently stop with the SDM’s court, is intended to assuage concerns over corporate houses dictating terms. The government will also consider amending penalty clause for stubble burning and changing provisions of the proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill which seeks to end direct subsidies. Under the proposed law, all consumers, including farmers, will have to pay the tariff, and the subsidy will be sent to them through direct benefit transfer. “The government has no ego, it is committed to farmers. I would like to reiterate that the minimum support price (MSP) system will continue and we will assure farmers about it,” Tomar said. While the Centre is ready for a “written assurance”, farmers want a legal guarantee through a new law. “In the new Act, it has been provided that farmers can take their grievances to the SDM court. Farmers’ unions feel that the SDM’s court is a lower court and they should be allowed to go to higher courts. The government will consider this demand,” Tomar said. Referring to concerns over APMC ‘mandis’, Tomar said the government would see how they could be further strengthened. “Since the new laws lay down provision for private ‘mandis’ outside the purview of the APMC, we will also contemplate having equal tax for both private as well as government regulated mandis,” the minister said. Though Tomar appealed to farmers’ unions to end their agitation, the groups will take a decision only after the outcome of Saturday’s meeting. As the farm groups had objected to parallel talks with other organisations, the government expanded the list of unions from 35 to 40, inviting BKU (Tikait) and national alliances of farmers. The government had on Tuesday met a few groups, including BKU (Tikait), separately when the latter expressed a desire to take part in the discussions, considering it a pan-India issue. “The government has given some indications over MSP. The talks have made a little progress, but farmers want that the laws be taken back,” BKU spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said after the meeting on Thursday. The government side explained the constitutional provisions of inter-state trade under which the central government legislated the laws. Watch Govt assures farmers on MSP, next round of talks on December 5

The Times of India

2020-12-04

India