News Analysis India

Tag: Agri Laws

  • Rajya Sabha business lists debate on ‘agri problems, solutions’, Jairam Ramesh questions his name on it

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has accused the government of putting his name in the discussion on ‘agriculture problems and solutions’ in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday which is not related to his calling attention notice on farmers’ agitation.

    Since the start of the Monsoon session on July 19, parliamentary proceedings have been continuously witnessing disruptions due to protests by Opposition parties and a logjam has persisted over their demand for a discussion on the Pegasus snooping row and farmers’ protests.

    “Tomorrow, in a too clever-by-half move the Modi Government has scheduled a discussion on ‘the agricultural problems and solutions’ and added my name to it.

    “The discussion has nothing to do with my notice given on July 23 on the ongoing farmers’ agitation,” Ramesh tweeted on Monday.

    The government has listed a short-duration discussion on “the agricultural problems and solutions” in the list of businesses of the Rajya Sabha for August 10.

    Ramesh shared a picture of the calling attention notice given on July 23 in which he wrote, “Farmers and farmer organisations have been protesting and agitating against the three farm laws that were pushed through Parliament without any legislative scrutiny in September 2020. The agitation has been going on for at least nine months now.”

    Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien supported Ramesh saying the “dirty tricks” of the BJP is trying to break opposition unity.

    “Dirty tricks of Modi-Shah. Glad you called them out. Opposition speaking in one voice: we want a discussion on internal security (Pegasus). Failed again in trying to divide and rule,” O’Brien tweeted in reply to Ramesh.

  • Farmers will oust BJP government if it doesn’t repeal agri laws: BKU leader Rakesh Tikait

    By PTI

    GHAZIABAD: Farmers will oust the BJP government if it does not repeal the contentious agricultural laws and enacts a legislation guaranteeing minimum support price (MSP) for crops, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait said here on Monday.

    Tikait, the national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, made the remarks as he held a meeting with the BKU’s office-bearers from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh at the Ghazipur border here.

    The meeting was held to formulate a strategy to intensify the farmers’ agitation in these states to press their demand for the withdrawal of the three farm laws and the guarantee for MSP, according to a BKU statement.

    “If the laws are not repealed and MSP not guaranteed, we shall force the BJP (government) to quit. We will reach out to farmers and expose the BJP. A government made by farmers cannot stay in power if it is anti-farmer,” the statement in Hindi quoted Tikait as saying.

    However, the influential BKU leader emphasised that the farmers are not against any political party.

    “We are not against any party. We are only against any group which is opposed to the welfare of the farmers and labourers,” he added.

    In his meeting, Tikait held discussions on the BKU’s press conferences scheduled for August 11 in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun and Himachal Pradesh’s Nahan, the farmer union’s media in-charge Dharmendra Malik said.

    The BKU will hold an event in Haryana’s Mewat on August 26 and one in Yamuna Nagar on August 29, he said.

    In September, a ‘kisan panchayat’ will be held in Muzaffarnagar, the BKU’s headquarters in western Uttar Pradesh, he added.

    Hundreds of farmers are encamped at Delhi’s border points of Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur since November 2020.

    They have been demanding that the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 be rolled back and a new law made to guarantee MSP for their crops.

    The government, which has held 11 rounds of talks with the farmer leaders, has maintained the laws are pro-farmer and will usher in new technology in farming.

  • Adityanath govt cannot hide ‘plight’ of farmers by giving full page ads: Priyanka Gandhi

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Attacking the Uttar Pradesh government, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday said it cannot hide the “plight” of farmers by giving full page advertisements and asked what it had done about the “black agri laws”.

    The Congress general secretary’s attack came over a media report on a farmer allegedly committing suicide in Pichaura village under Kanpur Dehat after his crops were ruined due to floods in the village.

    “Farmers are the soul of this country. The UP government cannot hide the plight of the farmers by giving full page advertisements. Tell me what did you do — With regard to stray cattle? Compensation for crop loss? Payment of sugarcane dues? About black agri laws? Regarding inflation and the price of electricity?” she said in a tweet in Hindi.

    Farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at Delhi’s borders since November last year in protest against the three laws.

    Out of them, a small group of 200 farmers are now staging a protest at Jantar Mantar in central Delhi after getting special permission.

    The Congress and several other Opposition parties are demanding a repeal of the farm laws.

     

  • Punjab Congress chief Navjot Sidhu calls victory of anti-farm law agitation ‘top priority’

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: Newly appointed Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Saturday said for him the “victory” of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha is a top priority and he will go “barefoot” to meet farmers protesting the Centre’s farm laws whenever they call him.

    The Samyukt Kisan Morcha is an umbrella body of farmer unions spearheading the agitation against the Centre’s three farm laws.

    Farmers have been protesting at Delhi borders since late November, demanding the repeal of the laws.

    “I consider the victory of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha as my top priority. I have been calling the farmers’ agitation as sacred for the past one year,” Sidhu told reporters at Chamkaur Sahib, where he got a rousing reception from party workers, a day after taking charge as the state Congress chief.

    Chamkaur Sahib is the constituency of Punjab minister Charanjit Singh Channi.

    Party supporters showered flower petals on Sidhu as his cavalcade passed through various places. The cricketer-turned-politician also visited various religious places. Later, he told reporters at Morinda that he wants to ask the protesting farmers how the Punjab government can assist them in their cause.

    “I want to ask them how our government’s power can help them in a big way. Look, rising cost, declining yield and income for the past 25 years are forcing farmers to hold agitation. It is our intention that this social movement should convert into an economic power,” said Sidhu.

    He recalled that he had put up a black flag at his house in support of agitating farmers.

    “Whenever they call me, I will go barefoot and take their blessings,” he stated.

    Sidhu also raised the issues concerning the desecration cases, power tariffs and the drug menace.

    “Every Punjabi wants justice in ‘beadbi (desecration) of the Guru Sahib’,” Sidhu said.

    He said people want to know the names of the big fish behind the drug menace.

    “Why we have a power purchase contract at Rs 18 a unit when it is available at Rs 2 per unit.

    When we know every year, solar power rates are declining by 20 per cent, then why Punjab pays from Rs 7 to 18 per unit. Why should it not be bought from the national grid? We have to give answers to all these questions,” Sidhu said raising the issue of power high tarrif.

    Sidhu further said his party has an an 18-point agenda.

    “Every MLA, MP and worker is a guard of this agenda and it has to be implemented,” asserted Sidhu.

    “We have no option other than this to move forward,” said Sidhu while pointing towards the 18-point agenda.

    The party high command last month had asked Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to act on 18 issues, including the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib, drugs and power purchase agreements.

  • Fire at farmers’ protest site on Singhu border, tent damaged 

    By PTI
    SONIPAT: A tent was damaged as a fire broke out at the farmers’ protest site on the Delhi’s Singhu border on Saturday, police said.

    A police official said no loss of human life was reported in this incident.

    Farmers have been camping at Delhi borders since November last year, demanding the repeal of the Centre’s three contentious farm laws and a new law to guarantee minimum support price for crops.

    However, the government has maintained that the laws are pro-farmer.

    Several rounds of talks between farmers and the government have failed to break the deadlock over the farm laws.

  • ‘Very concerned’ about well-being of protesting women farmers: Smriti Irani.

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The government is “very concerned” about the well-being of women farmers protesting at Delhi borders, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

    Replying to a question, Irani said the agriculture ministry has appealed to the protesting farmers’ unions that women should be requested to go home keeping in view the severe weather conditions and Covid pandemic.

    “The government has been very concerned about the well-being of women farmers. The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare during discussions with the farmers’ unions appealed to them that children and elders, especially women, should be requested to go home keeping in view the severe weather conditions and the Covid pandemic,” Irani said in a written reply.

    “Basic amenities for taking care of the condition of citizens, including that of women farmers, are provided by the concerned local body and state/UT government,” she added.

    Thousands of farmers from across the country have been agitating at three Delhi border points — Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur — against the three farm laws that they claim will do away with the minimum support price system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporations.

    Over 10 rounds of talks with the government, which has been projecting the laws at major agricultural reforms, have failed to break the deadlock between the two sides.

  • Farmers block highway in Sirsa; demand release of protesters, withdrawal of sedition charges 

    By PTI
    SIRSA: Farmers on Wednesday blocked a national highway here at three different points to demand the release of five protesters who were arrested last week following an attack on Haryana Assembly Deputy Speaker Ranbir Gangwa’s car.

    The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of various farmers’ unions, spearheading stir against the farm laws, has also demanded the withdrawal of cases including sedition charges against over 100 protesters booked in connection with the incident involving the attack on Gangwa’s car on July 11.

    Meanwhile, the indefinite fast of farmer leader Baldev Singh Sirsa as a protest against the arrests and registration of cases entered the fourth day on Wednesday.

    A team of the health department conducted Sirsa’s medical checkup at the protest site.

    ALSO READ | Farmers get Delhi Police’s permission to hold protests at Jantar Mantar

    The protesters blocked the highway for two hours at different points, including Khuian Malana toll plaza and Panjuana village.

    While emergency vehicles were allowed to pass, the blockade, however, resulted in traffic jams on both sides of the road.

    Police in strength had been deployed to prevent any untoward incident.

    Many passengers, including some students, were seen getting down from the buses and walking on foot and using other means to reach their destinations.

    The police have booked over 100 people, mostly unidentified, for sedition, obstructing public servants in discharge of their duty, murderous attempt on an elected representative and damaging public property after the attack on the deputy speaker’s vehicle.

    The protesting farmers had earlier claimed that the administration has not been able to show any video or other evidence to prove that the farmers indulged in violence on July 11.

  • Police’s request to reduce people gathering for Parliament protest has been declined: Farmer leader

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on Sunday asked farmer unions to reduce the number of people who would gather in front of Parliament to protest against three agri laws from July 22, but it has been declined, a farm union leader said.

    “We informed police that every day 200 farmers will go to Parliament from the Singhu border during the Monsoon Session. It will be a peaceful protest and protesters will have identification badges also,” Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh national president Shiv Kumar Kakka said.

    The Monsoon Session of Parliament will start on Monday and is scheduled to conclude on August 13.

    Every detail about each protester will be given to police, including a demonstrator’s Aadhaar card and mobile phone number, he said.

    Police have offered an alternative place for the demonstration and have asked unions to reduce the number of protesters.

    This request of the police has been declined by farmer leaders, Kakka said.

    The Delhi Police will give its reply on Monday and the timing of the protest will also be decided, he said.

    “We asked them to review their decision due to the ongoing Covid situation and DDMA guidelines. We informed them that we have not allowed people to gather or demonstrate. No permit has been given yet. Further communication will take place accordingly,” a senior police officer said.

    Farmers have been protesting against the central laws since November last year at Delhi border points of Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur.

    The legislations were enacted in September last year.

    The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of over 40 farmer unions spearheading the stir against the central laws, has planned that around 200 farmers will protests outside Parliament every day during the period of the Monsoon session.

    A tractor parade in Delhi on January 26, that was to highlight the demands of the farmer unions to repeal the, had dissolved into anarchy on the streets of the national capital as thousands of protesters broke through barriers, fought with the police, overturned vehicles and hoisted a religious flag from the ramparts of the iconic Red Fort.

    The SKM had earlier said at a press conference that two days before the Monsoon session begins, a “chetavani patra” (warning letter) will be issued to all opposition MPs to protest the farm laws inside the House.

    Farmers agitating against the three farm laws claim that the legislations will do away with the Minimum Support Price system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporations.

    Over 10 rounds of talks with the government, which has been projecting the laws at major agricultural reforms, have failed to break the deadlock between the two parties.

  • Mayawati slams Amarinder Singh over letter to PM regarding farmers’ protest

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: BSP president Mayawati on Saturday targeted Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh over his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the ongoing farmers’ agitation.

    “The letter written by the Congress CM of Punjab to the PM, expressing various apprehensions about the farmers’ agitation is a conspiracy to defame the movement of the farmers, who are sacrificing their lives to get the new agricultural laws repealed, and pursue electoral politics under its guise.

    This is most unfair,” she said in a tweet in Hindi.

    Taking the Centre’s cooperation on challenges faced by the government of a border state is not unreasonable, but pursuing selfish electoral politics under its garb and defaming the farmers’ movement are something the public understands well, Mayawati added.

    “The Congress is not going to reap any benefit by doing this,” she said.

    Singh had on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately resume talks with agitating farmers, sending him a letter that cited “cross-border threat” by ISI-backed groups ahead of the state assembly polls.

    In the letter, the chief minister cited “heightened cross-border threat and increased drone and other terrorist activities by ISI-backed groups, including plans by Khalistani outfits to target certain farmer leaders”.

    He warned that powers across the border “may try to play upon the charged emotions of our proud, sincere, and hardworking farmers” of Punjab.

  • Maharashtra government introduces three bills to counter Centre’s farm laws

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena-led MVA government in Maharashtra on Tuesday introduced three amendment bills in the assembly related to agriculture, co-operation, food and civil supplies, in a move to counter the new farm laws enacted by the Centre that are facing stiff opposition from a section of cultivators.

    The bills have provisions for higher than MSP rate for produce in farming agreement with traders, timely payment of dues, three-year jail term and Rs 5 lakh fine or both for harassment of farmers.

    They also have provisions to give power to the state government to regulate and prohibit production, supply, distribution and impose stock limits on essential commodities.

    Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat said the central farm acts were passed without discussion and several of their provisions encroach on rights of state governments.

    “The state government has right to make laws and we want to suggest amendments to the central agriculture laws which we feel are anti-farmer,” he said.

    The bills which have been placed in public domain for two months for suggestions and objections are – Essential Commodities (Amendment), Farmers (Empowerment and Protection), Guarantee Price; Agriculture Related Agreements (Maharashtra Amendment) and Amendments to Central Government Farmer Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation).

    The draft bills have been prepared by a cabinet sub-committee headed by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.

    Pawar said the draft bills will be in public domain for two months during which all stakeholders can hold discussions and debates on their provisions.

    The bills will be taken up for discussion and passage during the winter session of the legislature in Nagpur (held in December), he said.

    Agriculture Minister Dada Bhuse said farming agreements (between traders and farmers) will be considered invalid if the price of agri produce being offered is not more than the MSP (minimum support price).

    If the farmer is not paid in seven days of sale of his produce, a criminal offence can be lodged against the trader and punishments include three year in jail and Rs 5 lakh penalty, Bhuse said.

    Co-operation minister Balasaheb Patil said under the central acts, there is no control over trader in case of a default in payment to farmer after sale of agriculture produce.

    To ensure farmers get remunerative price for their agriculture produce within time and to protect their interests, the state government has decided to amend the Centre’s Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act in its application to Maharashtra, Patil said.

    The draft bill proposes that no trader shall trade in any scheduled agri produce unless he has a valid licence from the competent authority, Patil said.

    In any dispute arising out of a transaction between a farmer and a trader, parties may seek solution by filing an application to the competent authority and an appeal against the order of competent authority to the appellate authority, he said.

    For harassment of farmers punishment is not less than three years imprisonment and fine of not less than Rs 5 lakh or both, he said.

    Food and civil supplies minister Chhagan Bhujbal said in the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 – which has been amended by the Centre – there is no provision for the state government to regulate or prohibit production, supply, distribution, imposing stock limits under extraordinary circumstances which may include famine, price rise or natural calamity.

    He said the state government proposes to amend the act in its application to Maharashtra and assume power to regulate and prohibit production, supply, distribution and impose stock limits.