“I was born and raised in a small village called Maur Kalan in Punjab. We belong to a small farmers’ community, I have seen my father work hard day in and out to educate me and my sister. As a first-generation graduate, my family never wanted me to be a farmer but my passion for agriculture and compassion towards small & marginal farmers brought me back to my roots. After my brief stint with farmers at Punjab Agricultural University and TII, I recently ventured into a social enterprise called ‘Gramya Ventures’ which works for the empowerment of farmers across the villages. We directly work with the farmers in Maharashtra and Madya Pradesh to make the shift from conventional practice to organic farming.
When I read about the three farm laws which were passed by the government, I felt that it could lead to new technological intervention to the existing procurement system of the farmers’ produce. The intent behind these three bills was to promote barrier-free inter and intra-state trade and commerce outside the physical premises of markets between farmers and traders. However, there are certain loopholes that I think the government needs to address and make necessary amendments to resolve the problems.
One of the major drawbacks of the three bills was not giving any statutory backing to the Minimum Support Price of the produce (MSP) to the farmers. By including a statutory backing to the MSP and procurement will eradicate the fear of the farmers. Considering the guidelines of existing laws, in case there is a dispute between the farmer and the corporate, the farmer can only go to State District Magistrate to resolve the issue, instead, farmers should have the option to go to civil courts. Moreover, anyone who has the PAN card can buy the produce from the farmer as per the laws, but it needs to be changed with those having a license can only buy the farmer’s produce. These bills do not ensure the crop procurement at Minimal price. So the government should penalize those buying the Farmer’s crop less than MSP. As per the new laws, corporates can keep the unlimited quantity of stock but to avoid market monopoly there should be an upper limit for stocking. It will lead to healthy competition in the market and attract more start-ups and investments in the Agri sector.
Recently, the Farmer Unions from Punjab and other parts of the country who are part of the “Delhi Chalo” march have been protesting against the move of the Centre in passing the farm laws. While I respect the farmers’ concerns, I certainly believe there should be a dialogue and mutual agreement among the farmers union and the central government for the betterment of the situation. By making the necessary amendments as mentioned earlier can reform the Indian agriculture sector in terms of technology, infrastructure, and marketability of crops.”
#Agriculture #FarmersProtest #Government #FarmBills #Opinion #Amendments #Farmers #Reforms #AgricultureTechnology #Critique #Analysis #marketing #Technology #People #MSP #Hyderabad #HumansofHyderabad