Farmers Movement Archive

Table alternative farm bill: Adhir to TMC

Kolkata: West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Adhir Chowdhury wants the ruling Trinamool Congress to table “an alternative farm bill” in the state assembly instead of merely criticising the Union government’s new farm laws. “The market is on fire. The state government says potato and onion prices are spiralling beyond control ever since the Centre dropped these food items from the list of essential commodities. Why isn’t the government calling a session of the Bengal assembly and adopting an alternative farm bill?” Chowdhury said, taking a cue from some Congress-ruled states that are mulling this route. The veteran leader mooted the proposal while announcing his party’s public outreach programme — Bazare Bazare — in response to chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s welfare-on-doorstep campaign Duare Sarkar. Congress workers will visit markets in every block from December 9 and hold demonstrations against rising prices. The programme is a part of the party’s independent initiative to make its presence felt ahead of the assembly polls. According to legal experts, Bengal could take recourse to Article 254(2) of the Constitution that provides that a state legislature can pass a law on matters included on the Concurrent List in case provisions of the law passed by Parliament is “repugnant to provisions of an existing state law”. Nevertheless, the same will require the President’s assent. The state government is decidedly not in a mood for a legal wrangle at the moment. “There are many other ways by which the Centre’s anti-farmer stance can be fought. We are exploring those ways,” a Trinamool minister said.

The Times of India

2020-12-04

Kolkata