Farmers Movement Archive

Uniform farm laws not viable in a diverse country like India, says Punjab Agricultural University report

Uniform farm laws and policies are not viable in a country as diverse as India and legalising minimum support price (MSP) will help encourage crop diversification, said Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, in a report released on Monday. Listing the recommendations in the report titled ‘Farm Sector Laws and their Implications for Punjab Agriculture’, the university says the views of states should prevail while enacting farm laws as agriculture is a state subject. “There are extremely diverse agro-ecologies in the country. Consider for instance cropping patterns and systems in three adjoining states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan. States are in a better position to design and implement policies in sync with their strengths and weaknesses. Implementation of uniform policies across the country might be counterproductive,” the report reads. “The support being given to the farmers in the form of MSP and public procurement is just peanuts as compared to the incentives received by other sectors, especially the big corporate houses,” said PAU vice- chancellor Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon.Prof Kamal Vatta, head of the department of economics and sociology, said there should be a policy to narrow down the inequality between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors by generating income opportunities and raising earning of farmers rather than providing a free hand to big traders and corporate houses to flourish at the cost of poor farmers.“This is a major source of state revenue as industrial development got a major setback in Punjab due to huge tax rebates and incentives given to the industry in hill states. Thus, the state should be allowed to levy taxes on trade of agricultural produce outside the APMC markets also,” said Prof Vatta.Also, the report says the laws must have adequate safeguards for the farmers and the government should explore quasi-judicial forums for dispute settlement rather than leaving it to the bureaucracy.

Hindustan Times

22-12-2020

City