Farmers Movement Archive

Farm laws: 'No govt will dare to bring full reforms'

NEW DELHI: Certain provisions of the central farm laws might have been debated fiercely, but the decision to roll back the legislations is seen as a serious setback to farm reforms, which may not now be taken up at the Centre in a comprehensive manner in near future fearing a backlash. Reforms are now more likely to be pursued at the state level, with BJP governments expected to take the lead, but the effort to bring about market integration will be hurt in the absence of uniformity. Moreover, with farm reforms now likely to move in bits and pieces, the pace might be slow for those farmers who actually stand to benefit in the short to medium-term. Read Also'Apology to countrymen': Couldn't convince a section of farmers on agri laws, will repeal all three, says PMIn a decision that took the nation by surprise, PM Modi on Friday offered an apology for being unable to convince a section of farmers about the benefits of the new farm laws and announced that they would be withdrawn in the forthcoming winter session of Parliament."No government will now dare to bring much needed comprehensive reforms in the farm sector in the coming 50 years and majority of the farmers would now remain poor," Anil Ghanwat, one of the members of the Supreme Court-appointed committee on contentious farm laws, told TOI. Read AlsoFarm laws repealed, PM Modi appeals protesting farmers to return home: Key pointsPM Narendra Modi on Friday announced that the government has decided to repeal the three farm laws, which were at the centre of protests by farmers for the past year. Addressing the nation on the occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti, the Prime Minister said the three laws were for the benefit of farmersCalling the decision "quite unfortunate", Ghanwat, president of the Swatantra Bharat Paksha (political arm of the Maharashtra-based group Shetkari Sanghatana), said, "This (move to repeal) is the most regressive step by PM Modi as he chose politics over farmers' welfare. If the government had to repeal it, why would it wait for so long?" Government sources, however, drew a parallel with the abandonment of the land acquisition amendments in 2014-15 and said solutions were found through state-level changes. They said the reforms had in any case been stayed by the Supreme Court and the agitation was only creating more doubts. Ghanwat, who was on his way to Delhi, said he would meet other two members of the Committee -Ashok Gulati and P K Joshi - on Monday and take a call on making the report of the panel, submitted to the SC in March, public, saying those recommendations may help the new committee which the PM said would be set up for looking into different aspects of farming and issues relating to minimum support price (MSP). Officials in the agriculture ministry and other advocates of reforms too think the process would now get into the mode of the past practices of forming one after another panel without actually any result.

The Times of India

2021-11-20

India