Farmers Movement Archive

Harsimrat Kaur quits in protest against agri Bills

During the Lok Sabha’s debate on the Bills, which extended its session by almost three hours, the Opposition parties also slammed the Centre for overstepping its Constitutional jurisdiction, as agriculture is a subject on the States’ list. States will also be deprived of the much-needed revenue as transactions outside the APMC mandi s could not be taxed, said Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. “MSP was, is, and will continue to remain in future,” said Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, not responding to the Opposition demands to include MSP as a legal entitlement for all farmers in the legislation. Responding to the debate, he said the Bills would give farmers more choice, with competition for their produce leading to remunerative prices, and improved infrastructure and services. He said States’ APMC Acts would continue to remain in force, and farmers were free to sell in the mandi s as well. SAD chief and MP Sukhbir Singh Badal also emphasised that the Congress had included abolition of APMCs in its own election manifesto. “It is Congress that is doing a U-turn, not the Shiromani Akali Dal,” he said. At the conclusion of his speech, he announced that his wife and Union Minister Ms. Badal would quit over the party’s opposition to these Bills and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 that was cleared by the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The Hindu

2020-09-18

September 18 2020 00:00 IST