Published 13:22 IST, November 1st 2020
Congress-ruled Rajasthan follows Punjab; tables own bills to counter Centre's farms laws
Rajasthan becomes the 2nd Congress-ruled state after Punjab to introduce new farm bills to counter Central laws, citing “extraordinary outrage” among farmers
The Congress government in Rajasthan on Saturday introduced three Bills in the state assembly to counter the new agriculture laws enacted by the Centre recently. Rajasthan becomes the second Congress-ruled state after Punjab to introduce new farm bills to counter the Central laws, citing “extraordinary outrage” among farmers.
State Parliamentary Affairs minister Shanti Kumar Dhariwal introduced the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2020; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2020; and, The Essential Commodities (Special Provisions and Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2020, on the first day of the Assembly session.
The Bills were tabled following a similar move in the Punjab Assembly, where a resolution was adopted and four Bills were passed last week to counter the Central laws. The Rajasthan Cabinet had recently decided to convene a special session of the Assembly to protect the interests of farmers
What are the three bills?
The proposed legislations have several provisions to address the farmers' concerns about livelihood security and the minimum support prices (MSP) regime.
The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2020 seeks to penalise traders, if they harass farmers, with a punishment of 3-7 years or a minimum fine of Rs 5 lakh, or both.
According to the Bill, harassment will be treated as committed when the trader does not accept the delivery of the farm produce agreed upon or, having accepted the delivery, does not make the payment to the farmer in accordance with the terms of the agreement.
The bill also states that no farming agreement for the sale or purchase of a crop would be valid unless the price paid was equal to, or greater than, the prevailing MSP announced by the Central government.
The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2020 seeks to impose fee or cess on notified agricultural produce bought by a corporate or trader and for resolution of disputes between the farmer and a trader through the Agricultural Produce Markets Act. This provision will restore the powers of civil courts in dispute resolution.
The Essential Commodities (Special Provisions and Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2020, is proposed to protect the consumers from hoarding and black-marketing of agricultural produce and secure the interests of farmers. Unlike the Central Act which had removed the ceiling on the stock of farm commodities, the Bill sought to give powers to the State government to regulate the production, supply and distribution and impose stock limits under extraordinary circumstances.
Updated 13:22 IST, November 1st 2020