India's new farming reforms. – Explained.
- Neil
- Jan 9, 2021
- 8 min read
Updated: Jan 17, 2021
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Why are Farmers in India protesting? Specifically, why are farmers from Punjab and Haryana protesting? The Farmer protests have been a land of conspiracy theories. Right from people claiming that the farmers are Khalistani to saying that the Farmers - aren't even farmers, the protests that you see from your living room TV are big – but it’s clear that some media channels are instead hell-bent on suppressing the voices of the farmers. If you watch some “mainstream media channels” they may have said that these farmers have been misled. You should have noticed a pattern by now that these channels go by - disinform, distract, and discredit. This stays the same for the Farmer Protests. The lack of media coverage from many mainstream media channels makes it harder for the general population to understand what these farmers want and why they wish to have this. This article will stay neutral and will give you an in-depth understanding of these new laws, discuss the advantages and disadvantages, what the farmers are saying, counter rumours, and clear most of the questions you may have about this bill. This article will also stay neutral and will clear many questions you have about these laws and the protests.
Before we get into the article, I urge you to check part 1 of the same - when the farm laws were passed really. It talks about how these bills were passed and why they may be under hot water because of this.
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The question this article is based on:
What has compelled Indian farmers to hold Bharat Bandhs, protests and what are the consequences of these bills in certain regions namely Punjab and Haryana. What has happened when something similar was done before? Why is this bill under controversy?
What the next article will cover:
What do these farm laws do? What are these protests? (What)
Has this been done in a certain region and time before? (What)
Why were these laws passed? (Why)
The reforms
Why these reforms may help
The potentially devastating consequences
Solutions - (to avoid future issues like this and resolve many problems)
The argument of why we can’t bring reforms which everyone likes+conclusion.
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The What, the When, and the Why - Explained.
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On November 27 2020, India shut down. More than 250 million people decided to go on strike to stand in solidarity with farmers protesting near the Singhu border. They are ready to stay there for weeks. All of this is happening because the Modi Government passed these three farm bills which change the system that has been in place for decades.
How does the existing system work:
Farmers bring their stock to APMC Mandis to trade. The minimum support price (M.S.P) serves as a benchmark for how much a crop can be sold for, and the government buys a few of those crops at the M.S.P. Even though there is a lot of contractual farming happening outside of the jurisdiction of the Mandis, the M.S.P or minimum support price serves as a benchmark. The system has oversight which is aimed to protect farmers as the government know that farmers are the weakest link of our society and can be exploited easily. In Punjab and Haryana, these Mandis have become an important part of the industry. These laws aim to deregulate these industries and allow farmers to make contracts and sell goods to private players outside of these APMC markets without paying Mandi jurisdiction charges.
By now, you may have heard the word ‘MSP’- which stands for minimum support price and why it is crucial for the APMC Mandis and the farmers. Throughout the article, we will dig deeper into this topic and I aim to have a clear understanding of the M.S.P for the government, middlemen, and farmers and why farmers need to have it to get some amount of money. The latter is the most affected by this change. This system is vital to keep these farmers from getting exploited. The original reforms didn’t have any mention about the M.S.P which had farmers concerned. Though the government says it is willing to assure an M.S.P, one can’t help but ask –” why were these laws passed without a mention of the M.S.P in the first place”? This is what is concerning a lot of farmers - they are worried that the government may eventually drop the M.S.P.
Let’s talk about the protests for a bit. Farmers were approaching Delhi when police fired tear gas, pelted stones, and fired water cannons - but the farmers made it. They made it into Delhi, blocked national highways and visited the nation’s capital to get their voice back. This protest - though peaceful has had some repercussions to the image of the farmers to the common person in Urban India. I will discuss this in a future article - but for now, we will stick to the topic.
Reforms.
It aims to open doors to private investment in the farming sector.
It aims to abolish the already bad infrastructure of the government. Many APMC Mandis cover an area of 496 kilometres well above the recommended 80 kilometres.
Arthiyas (middlemen) control many of these markets. These laws will let farmers sell directly to private players therefore eliminating the need of these middlemen. So what do the middlemen do really? Often, state agencies pay these Arthiyas M.S.P to buy produce, but the middlemen pocket a lot of the cash - giving the farmers prices well below M.S.P - claim many experts and the government.
Diversifying the production to more profitable crops.
Our government is poor but needs to buy the produce irrespective of whether it is needed or not.
Selling to the government requires paperwork and planning which takes a very long time.
Consequences of these laws that may be devastating for a country of which more than half of all the workforce is from the agriculture sector.
Arguments presented (By farmers and experts):
These Mandis will get uncompetitive eventually and the Mandis will fall as nobody will trade in these Mandis. Hence, the farmers will have to approach big corporate players and sell their produce directly without oversight.
All three of these laws aim to deregulate a certain part of the system. Farmers are only protected by current laws which aim to regulate and strictly enforce laws to protect them as they are the most vulnerable people and can be exploited easily.
The above laws - instead of providing more protection take the protection away - implying that the farmers don’t need protection from corporates.
It is not easy for a farmer to go up against big corporations which have multiple lawyers and a lot of money.
Many Arthiyas help farmers and have a long-term relationship with them as proven by a study. They help them take the produce to markets and charge a fee.
An example a few farmers and experts gave is that “the same produce that is being sold in Punjab for 1900, is being sold in Bihar for 900” – this tells us that this may be a flawed system.
Read more on this:
Sources mentioned will be cited.
Each of the acts deregulates a certain part of the system.
The first act creates unregulated spaces outside of APMC Trade jurisdiction. This creates two different markets confusing prices and reducing the trade that happens in the Mandis. Since these laws were passed, The farmers will have to go into the unregulated spaces as procurement of goods in A.P.M.C Mandis reduce. The farmers have limited options going only to the S.D.M (sub-district magistrate) - which makes it harder for farmers to fight bad deals. One of the laws states:
This terminates the existing limited storage system set by the government to control prices. Without oversight and regulation - anyone with enough money can stock up, and eventually start dictating prices which may be devastating as these supplies are essential and let’s not forget that our country is in an active economic slowdown.
All three of these acts invite large players into a deregulated market in which farmers can’t do much to defend.
Historic context: Bihar
In 2006, Bihar abolished APMC markets. A report found that most farmers still sold their produce to village Banias who then went on to trade in markets. Village Banias are merchants. This practice didn’t change after the abolition of the Mandis. Instead, farmers from Bihar are the poorest in India still which may go on to show that middlemen are essential for farmers.
Report: https://bit.ly/3pZVMJ5
I encourage you to read it to get a deeper understanding of how the system works.
I do not encourage any of the vandalism done to the ‘JIO’ towers and only support the peaceful protesters. I will explore more on how this may have damaged the image of protesting farmers. I will try to get the article out in the next two weeks.
Conclusion:
These laws aim to deregulate the farming sector. This can potentially prove as devastating for a country of which half of the workforce is from the farming sector. Moreover, these bills seem to be passed with a hurry and without consideration of such reforms done in the past and were passed without enough debate. To solve this problem — the government must hold more press conferences with the prime minister or for that matter hold meetings. The people are losing trust in the government after seeing what happens in the houses of the parliament and the criminal cases lodged against several of our ministers. Some argue that it is difficult to bring in reforms and to them, I say that this is the answer. More than ever, the government needs to be more transparent with the people and hold normal debates in the parliament and take heavy consideration before passing laws which could impact millions of people. If the people trusted the government, maybe we could see development in our Self-Reliant Bharat.
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Hi there! I am Neil Sudhalkar, a 13-year-old who writes articles to improve my perspective and learn about important topics which may be of relevance in my future. I write articles to gain a deeper understanding of democracy, society and systems. I also try to write them in a way from which an individual can understand.
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