6 Reasons - Why Are Farmers Protesting

Author : Bhuvanesh Chaudhari

After the kissan bill was passed, it was intended to bring a big change and boost India's agricultural sector, but it seems to be quite controversial. The Farmer Union is marching toward Delhi. No one other than the government knows why are farmers protesting. So following are 6 reasons- Why Are Farmers Protesting?


Firstly, it is an undisputed fact that there was no consultation undertaken by the central government at the time of promulgating the ordinances, and subsequently while pushing the bills through the Parliament. Secondly, not with-standing the several pro-corporate and perceived anti-farmer provisions in the farm laws, the Union government has by-passed the federal structure by legislating on subjects that exclusively fall within the domain of the state government under the state list of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. Thirdly, the global experience across agricultural markets demonstrates that corporatization of agriculture without a concomitant security net in the form of an assured payment guarantee to the farmers results in the exploitation of farmers at the hands of big business. This poses a significant challenge to small and marginal farmers who constitute 86% of our agricultural class The present laws alter the bargaining landscape in favor of the corporate players to the detriment of the farmers. The fact that farmers believe this to be so cannot be shrugged away. Fourthly, the primary cause for concern is the systematic dismantling of the APMC mandis, which have stood the test of time and have provided farmers the remuneration to keep themselves afloat. “The farm laws open the field to an alternate set of markets/private yards, where the buyer will have no statutory obligation to pay the minimum support price (MSP). Since the said markets/private yards will not be charged any market fee/levy; the agricultural sector will see the gradual shifting of the trade from the APMC mandis to these private yards. Fifthly, the market fee collected by the APMC mandis is used for the development of rural infrastructure, link roads, and storage facilities. The shifting of trade to avoid payment of any levy/market fee by private players and the Food Corporation of India (FCI) will eventually witness the redundancy of the APMC mandis, leaving the farmers at the mercy of the corporate sharks. Six, the new farm laws expressly exclude the jurisdiction of the civil court, leaving the farmers remediless and with no independent medium of dispute redressal mechanism. Other reasons include the inflammation of the farmers by the politician of opposition.

There are many solutions for the farmer's problems, but they are unaware. India's Agricultural is very-very capable of inventing modern-day effective solutions and they are being implemented and the results are outstanding but due to lack of subsidies, they aren't able to scale up the production. The only way to end this protest is to bring change to the bill and gradually implement the laws.