FARM BILL, 2020

❖ Out of the three bills, Lok Sabha, through voice vote, passed the
Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and
Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and the Farmers (Empowerment and
Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services
Bill, 2020.

❖ The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill was passed earlier.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the bills are not going to override the
Minimum Support Price mechanism, and adequate protection of land ownership was in
place to protect farmer interests. They will now be tabled in Rajya Sabha and will
become laws after the Upper House passes them.

PROVISIONS OF THE BILL

❖ Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and

Facilitation) Bill, 2020 will enable barrier-free trade in
agricultural produce.
• It will also empower farmers to engage with investors of
their choice.
• The bill seeks to create an ecosystem where the farmers and
traders enjoy the freedom of choice relating to sale and purchase of farmers’ produce.
• It also facilitates remunerative prices by providing a competitive a trading channels to
promote efficient, transparent and barrier-free inter-State and intra-State trade.
• It also enables the commerce of farmers’ produces outside physical premises of markets
or deemed markets notified under State agricultural produce market legislations &
provides a facilitation framework for electronic trading.
❖ Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm
Services Bill, 2020 will help farmers enter into contract with agricultural business firms,
wholesalers, foot processors and large scale retailers.
• The small and marginal farmers in India account to 86 percentage of total farmers in the
country. They are farmers with land less than 5 hectare.
• It will help these farmers gain by aggregation and contracts. The bill will also help in
bringing up an effective dispute resolution mechanism with redressal timelines.

❖ Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill seeks to remove commodities like edible oils,
cereals pulses, oil seeds, onion and potatoes from the list of essential commodities.
• It will remove fears of private investors regarding the regulatory interference in their
operations. The bill will provide farmers the freedom to produce, hold, move, distribute
and supply.
• Though, India has surplus agri-commodities in most of the cases, farmers still are unable
to get better prices. It is because of poor investment in storage and processing facilities.
• The bill has been introduced to pull investment in cold storage and modernization of food
supply chain.

WHO IS PROTESTING AGAINST THE BILL

• Farmers in Punjab have organized a three-day protest against

the bills.
• Opposition parties, including TMC, Congress, DMK and
BSP, opposed the agriculture sector reform bills, saying they
were against the interests of small and marginal farmers.
• Congress upped its ante against the Modi government, terming the move a conspiracy to
defeat the Green Revolution.
• “Minister of Food Processing Industries and the only SAD representative in the Modi
government, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, resigned from the Union Cabinet, protesting
against the bills, alleging the Bills to be detrimental to Punjab's agriculture sector.
 MAJOR CONCERNS ABOUT THE BILL

❖ Centre v. State (Federal Angle): The provisions in the Farmers’ Produce Trade and
Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, provide for unfettered commerce in
designated trade areas outside APMC jurisdictions.
• Apart from this, the bill empowers the Centre government to issue orders to States
in furtherance of the law’s objectives.
• However, matters of trade and agriculture being the part of subjects on the State
list have caused resentment in States.

❖ Lack of Consultation: First the ordinance route and now the hastily attempt to pass the
Bills without proper consultation adds to the mistrust among various stakeholders
including farmers.
• Also, by allowing ‘trade zones’ to come up outside the APMC area, farmers have
become apprehensive that the new system would lead to eventual exit from the
minimum support price.

❖ Absence of any regulation in non-APMC mandis: Another issue that is raised by the
farmers is that the proposed bills give the preference for corporate interests at the cost of
farmers’ interests.
• In absence of any regulation in non-APMC mandis, the farmers may find it
difficult to deal with Corporate, as they solely operate on the motive of profit
seeking.

❖ Non-Favorable Market Conditions: While retail prices have remained high, data from
the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) suggest a deceleration in farm gate prices for most
agricultural produce.
• With rising input costs, farmers do not see the free market based framework
providing them remunerative prices.
These fears gain strength with the experience of States such as Bihar which abolished APMCs in
2006. After the abolition of mandis, farmers in Bihar on average received lower prices compared
to the MSP for most crops.

QUESTIONS (1-5)

Q.1 The Farm Bill 2020 that is passed by the parliament includes three Ordinances. Which of the
following is not one of them?

A. Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020
B. Agriculture produce (Grading and Marking), Bill 2020: ANSWER
C. Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020
D. Essential Commodities Amendment Bill 2020

Q.2 X is the Union Minister of Agriculture who presented the Farm Bill 2020 that is passed by
the parliament. Who is X here?

A. Narendra Singh Tomar: ANSWER

B. Thaawar Chand Gehlot
C. Ram Vilas Paswan
D. None of the above

Q.3 Which of the following statements is/are true about the provision of the bill that will benefit
the farmers?

A. Enable barrier-free trade in agricultural produce.

B. Empower farmers to engage with investors of their choice
C. Help farmers to enter into contract with wholesalers.
D. All of the above: ANSWER
Q.4 Which of the following Ministers from the NDA has resigned from the Union Cabinet
protesting against the farm Bill 2020?

A. Ramesh Pokhriyal
B. Smriti Irani
C. Harsimrat Kaur Badal: ANSWER
D. Prahlad Joshi

Q.5 "Agriculture" is the subject which is included in which of the following lists given in the
Constitution of India?

A. Union List
B. State List: ANSWER
C. Concurrent List
D. Residuary List