The controversial agricultural bills that were passed in Lok Sabha on September 17 have been moved in Rajya Sabha by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar.
Farmers and Agricultural Products Trade (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill of 2020 and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Guarantee and Agricultural Services Bill of 2020 and the Essential Products Bill (Amendment) 2020 will become law after the Upper House also passes them on Sunday.
Of the 245 members of Rajya Sabha, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is confident of gaining the support of more than 130 members, including nine members of the AIADMK and six of the YSR Congress, if a division of votes is sought in these bills. , according to the PTI news agency.
The bills will deregulate agricultural foods from the Essential Products Act (ECA) and farmers will be able to sell their products outside of government-regulated markets.
According to the government, the bills aim to accelerate agricultural growth through private sector investment in building agricultural infrastructure and supply chains for Indian agricultural products in national and global markets.
A government statement called the approval of these bills a “historic step” to unblock regulated agricultural markets in the country.
However, farmers believe that the bills will render the current Minimum Support Price (MSP) procurement system ineffective, leaving them at the mercy of “big farmers”. Farmers fear being forced to make urgent sales to private companies.
The passage of these bills in Lok Sabha sparked protests across the country with farmers in Punjab staging a three-day ‘rail roko’ agitation from September 24 to 26 and opposition leaders burning copies of the bills in the Parlament.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned from Narendra Modi’s cabinet on Thursday in protest against “anti-farmer” bills. “I don’t think I was able to convince the government about the farmers’ complaint about farm ordinances,” he said in an interview with the Hindustan Times.
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