Farmers Movement Archive

Social distancing to the wind at Cong protest against farm laws

Panaji: Social distancing went for a toss near Raj Bhavan on Monday as around 300 Congress workers marched to Raj Bhavan to protest against the three agricultural acts brought in by the Centre. With Goa police throwing in a strong cordon, the Congress workers standing shoulder to shoulder, raised slogans demanding that the laws should be repealed. In a memorandum addressed to President Ram Nath Kovind and submitted to Raj Bhavan, the Congress said that the Centre has subverted India’s federal structure. State Congress president Girish Chodankar said that the NDA had used its “draconian majority” to pass the Bills that will destroy farmers across the country. “Abolishing the system of grain market and vegetable market or Agriculture Produce Marketing System (APMC) will totally destroy the agricultural produce procurement system,” said Chodankar. “In such a scenario, the farmers will neither get the ‘Minimum Support Price’ (MSP) nor the price of their crop as per the market price. Congress’s contention is that farmers and farm labourers will be the biggest losers while large companies will stand to gain. The Centre pushed through three bills - The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, The Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance Farm Services Bill, 2020 and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 - which Kovind has given the nod to. Kamat said that the MSP helps in price discovery for the farmers at the APMC but once companies start purchasing directly from fields, the farmer will be unable to determine the appropriate price nor bargain for better prices. “The Modi government’s claim that farmers can now sell produce anywhere in the country is a white lie. In India, 86% of farmers cannot transport their farm produce to other states,” Kamat said. Interestingly, other than Kamat, no other Congress MLA was seen during the protest march. When queried, Chodankar said that though the other MLAs supported farmers, the party had asked senior leaders to maintain social distance and consider their own health. Congress also expects hoarding of agricultural produce, particularly cereal, pulses and other agricultural produce to increase. The party said that with the closure of mandis, Goa’s source of income from market fees will dry up.

The Times of India

2020-09-29

Goa