Updated: September 19, 2020 12:33:33 pm
The bill seeks to replace an ordinance enacted on the matter in June.
The Rajya Sabha will pass three controversial bills, including the two related to agriculture, over the weekend, even as the government and ruling BJP took different approaches with the Opposition, which protests all of these proposed laws.
While the BJP stepped up its attack on Congress, senior Union ministers are known to have reached out to some non-congressional opposition parties.
Sources said Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal also made contact with Rajya Sabha’s leadership of Congress, but did not appear to be in the mood to give in to the latter’s demand to refer. these bills to select committees.
While the Banking Regulation Bill (Amendment) is listed for Saturday, the Farmers Agreement (Empowerment and Protection) on Price Guarantee and the Farm Services Bill and the Essential Products Bill (Amendment) are listed for Sunday. Congress and other opposition parties oppose the three bills, as well as the bill on trade and promotion of agricultural products (promotion and facilitation).
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It was learned that the government side approached some opposition parties that do not belong to Congress with a proposal to have a meeting with Tomar.
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Outside Parliament, meanwhile, the war of words between Congress and the BJP on farm bills escalated on Friday. Congress alleged that the Bills were part of a “conspiracy” to eliminate the MSP.
BJP President JP Nadda responded by saying that Congress had promised in its 2019 manifesto to “get the farmers out of APMC.”
He said: “Your manifesto said that the Essential Products Act has become obsolete … we will free people from its purview. PM Narendra Modi has done it. Today, those who oppose these bills … speak the language of the intermediaries … “
He said that farmers, until now, were subject to the APMC Law. “That you can only sell your product in the grain market. Wasn’t that an era of slavery? PM Modi said we will release them. Farmers will have the freedom to sell their products wherever they want, whether in the grain market or abroad, or in any corner of the country … “
The Congress manifesto had promised that if voted for office, it would “repeal the Agricultural Products Market Committees Act and make trade in agricultural products, including exports and interstate commerce, free of all restrictions.”
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Arguing that the Essential Commodities Law of 1955 belongs to the era of controls, the party also promised to “replace the law with an enabling law that can only be invoked in emergencies.”
Congressional leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said the party had promised to establish thousands of farmers markets, which would be an improvement over the APMC system. The manifesto, he said, had promised “to establish farmers markets with adequate infrastructure and support in large villages and small towns so that the farmer can bring his products and trade them freely.”
Congressional leader P Chidambaram, who headed the manifesto committee, said he was disappointed with the “distortion” of the manifesto statement by BJP.
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