Farmers Movement Archive

SC-appointed panel submits recommendations to court

The three-member expert panel constituted by the Supreme Court to study and recommend changes to the Centre’s three new farm laws has submitted its report, one of the members of the panel said.The top court is likely to take up the matter next week after the Holi vacation.“The Committee submitted its report to the Supreme Court on March 19 in a sealed cover. The report is based on the issues referred to it for consideration as per the January 12 order passed by the Supreme Court. We have given our recommendations. Now it is entirely up to the Supreme Court to act on our recommendations,” said panel member Anil Ghanwat. Ghanwat is the president of the Maharashtra-based farmer organization Shetkari Sanghatana.Thousands of farmers have been camping at Delhi’s borders since November last year, seeking a repeal of the new farm laws, which they say will erode their bargaining power, weaken a system of assured prices, and leave them vulnerable to exploitation by agri-businesses. The government has maintained that the laws aim to ease restrictions on farm trade by setting up free markets, allow traders to stockpile large stocks of food for future sales and lay down a framework for contract farming.A three-judge bench of the top court, headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, appointed the committee on January 12 for the evaluation of the new laws and stayed their implementation after several rounds of negotiations between protesting farmers and the government failed to break the impasse.“The negotiations between the farmers’ bodies and the Government have not yielded any result so far. Therefore, we are of the view that the constitution of a committee of experts in the field of agriculture to negotiate between the farmers’ bodies and the Government of India may create a congenial atmosphere and improve the trust and confidence of the farmers. We are also of the view that a stay of implementation of all the three farm laws for the present, may assuage the hurt feelings of the farmers and encourage them to come to the negotiating table with confidence and good faith,” the court order said.The committee was asked to submit its report within two months. It held 12 rounds of discussions with farmer groups, farmer producer organisations of FPOs, intermediaries, academicians, experts, and private sector as well as state-owed agriculture companies. The committee was originally constituted with Bhupinder Singh Mann (National President, BKU and All India Kisan Coordination Committee), Pramod Kumar Joshi (Agricultural Economist, Director for South Asia, International Food Policy Research Institute), Ashok Gulati (Agricultural Economist and Former Chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices) and Ghanwat. Mann, however, resigned two days later expressing solidarity with the protesting farmer unions.Farm unions were quick to reject the panel, and it is not clear whether they will accept the recommendations. “We are not concerned about the Supreme Court committee’s report. We have already said that its members are pro-government. Our only demand is a withdrawal of the three laws,” said Gurnam Singh Charuni, a core member of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, a platform of farm unions leading an ongoing agitation against the farm laws.

Hindustan Times

31-03-2021

India