The Lok Sabha, by voice vote, approved two controversial pieces of legislation: the Bill on Trade and Trade (Promotion and Facilitation) of Agricultural Products of 2020 and the Agreement for the Guarantee of Prices and Agricultural Services of Farmers (Empowerment and Protection), 2020. The Essential Commodities Bill (Amendment) has already been passed.
The three bills will now be tabled in the Rajya Sabha and will become laws after the Upper House passes them as well.
The Union’s agriculture minister, Narendra Singh Tomar, introduced the bill to the lower house on Thursday and assured all members that farmers will be able to get better prices for their products and that the Minimum Support Price procurement system (MSP) will continue.
Read also: Farm bills: farmers body announces three-day ‘rail roko’ upheaval in Punjab starting September 24
Opposition parties, including Congress, the Trinamool Congress and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), opposed the bills on the grounds that they were “anti-farmers.” The minister of food processing industries, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, resigned due to the approval of these bills.
Here is everything you need to know:
one. According to the government, the reforms will accelerate agricultural growth through private sector investment in building agricultural infrastructure and supply chains for Indian agricultural products on national and global markets.
two. The bills are intended to create job opportunities and strengthen the economy.
3. Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the bills will not override the states’ Agricultural Products Marketing Committee (APMC) laws.
Four. The bills will promote barrier-free interstate and intrastate commerce and commerce outside the physical facilities of markets notified under state agricultural marketing laws, according to a government statement, which qualifies the approval of these projects as law as a “historic step”. in unlocking regulated agricultural markets in the country.
5. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also praised the passage of bills, saying they will free farmers from middlemen and other obstacles.
Read also: The president accepts the resignation of Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Narendra Singh Tomar assigns his portfolio
6. Farmers in Punjab have organized a three-day protest against the bills. They will organize a statewide ‘rail roko’ agitation from Sept. 24-26, a farmers’ body said. Despite government guarantees, farmers believe the bills will render the MSP’s current procurement system ineffective, leaving them at the mercy of the “big farmers.”
7. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the only SAD representative in the Modi government, tendered her resignation as Union minister for the food processing industry to protest against the “anti-farmer” bills. Her resignation was accepted Friday by the president. Narendra Singh Tomar was entrusted with the ministry of food processing industries.
8. The head of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and husband of Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Sukhbir Singh Badal, said the party was opposed to the laws on agricultural relations, but said it will remain part of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
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