The Lok Sabha approved on Thursday the Draft Law on Trade and Trade in Agricultural Products (Promotion and Facilitation), 2020, as well as the Farmers Agreement (Empowerment and Protection) on Price Guarantee and Agricultural Services, 2020 despite opposition and BJP ally Shiromani Akali Dal called it an “anti-farmer” measure and some organized a strike and widespread protests by farmers in various states on the issue.
Thousands of farmers in Punjab, Haryana and several other states have been organizing protests since the government introduced these bills in the Lok Sabha on Monday on the opening day of the Monsoon Session to replace the Trade Ordinance (Promotion and Facilitation ) of Agricultural Products, 2020, and the Farmers Agreement (Empowerment and Protection) on Price Guarantee and Agricultural Services Ordinance, 2020 promulgated on June 5.
The Agricultural Products Trade and Trade (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill 2020 seeks to provide a new ecosystem in which farmers and traders, according to the government, will enjoy freedom of choice in relation to the sale and purchase of their products. and will facilitate remunerative prices through alternative commercial channels to promote efficient, transparent and barrier-free interstate and intrastate commerce and trade.
Farmers’ products will leave the physical facilities of markets or markets deemed notified under various state agricultural product market laws to provide a facilitating framework for electronic commerce.
Meanwhile, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Agricultural Services Bill, 2020, which supersedes the ordinance, aims to provide a national framework on agricultural agreements that protects and empowers farmers to interact with agroindustrial companies, processors and wholesalers. , exporters or large retailers.
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