What is Farm Bill 2020? And why farmers are protesting against it?

What is Farm Bill 2020? And why farmers are protesting against it?

Farmers Protest

What happened to farmers why are they protesting? Is this the question you want the answer of read this blog and believe me you will learn each and every facts what farmers are going through.

In June of 2020, the central government came up with agriculture bills with an aim to improve the agriculture system of India by introducing private firms in the system.

Now Let us understand about the bills. What is the new bill for farmers?

The 3 bills are

1. The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020

2. The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020

3. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020 

For your information out of three bills two bills were passed by lower house “Lok Sabha”. When these bills were introduced in Rajya Sabha there has been a lot of arguments and hence the bill was finally passed through voice vote.

In Detail Explanation about the Bill

Bill 1 -  The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020

This bill gives farmers a liberty to sell their produced grains outside the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC). It means they will have a more choices to whom they want to sell. 

Now a question might arise in your mind what is APMC?  

Agricultural Produce Market Committee or APMC is a system operated under the guidance of  State Government. It helps farmers from doing distressed sales it means when a farmer is in need of an urgent money he may sell his products at very less price (by also bearing loss). APMC ensures that farmers get their fair price for their products and get timely payment for it. 

It also promote barrier-free inter-state and intra-state trade and commerce outside the markets or mandis owned by Agricultural Produce Marketing legislations (APMC). 

Bill 2  - The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020

This bill gives provision for setting up a framework for contract farming through an agreement or a deal between a farmer and an individual buyer before the farming in the land happens.

For contract farming the minimum time limit shall be one crop season and maximum time limit can be upto 5 years. However this time can be exceeded in special cases but that needs to be clearly stated in the farming agreement to prevent dispute between the parties and farmer.

Bill 3 - The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020

In this bill the Government of India will list certain commodities as essential to regulate their supply and prices only in cases of war, famine, extraordinary price rises, or natural calamities. The commodities that have been deregulated are food items, including cereals, pulses, potato, onion, edible oilseeds, and oils.

The question arises here, What is wrong with the farmer bill?

Indian farmers are fearing that the central government will stop the functioning of minimum support price (MSP) after some time then they (farmers) will lose more than their gain after the regulation of New Farm Laws 2020. They also fear that in some time big corporates will manipulate the market and farmers will not get their fair price for their crops. And the removal of “arthiyas” commission agents will lead to a lot of trouble for farmers as they will need to find the potential buyers for their crops.   

Before proceeding further you need to understand how Minimum Support Price (MSP) play crucial role in farming

MSP is the minimum price that is paid by the government when they buy the crops from the farmers. The price is decided by state run Commission for agricultural cost and prices for more than 22 commodities on an annual basis.

Government view on this Bill

From government side the three bills are the major reforms and can help to form a proper structure in agriculture sector. These bill will remove the middle person allowing direct deal between the buyer and the seller also it will increase the profit of the seller and also give them a freedom to sell their farm products anywhere in the country at their fair price.

There will also be no limit in storage of the stocks as previously it was restrained. According to government, through contract farming Farmers will be free from the risk of their crops being destroyed by the natural calamities like heavy rainfall, flood or any other.

Who are opposing this bill?

Few Political parties like Congress, Aam Aadmi Party,Bahujan Samaj Party farm organisation like Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) and All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) and some section of farmers are against this bill because they believe that these bills can destroy farmers livelihood by giving the controls to big corporates.