Farmers protest in India!
Why farmers are protesting in India? What is bothering them so much about the newly introduced farm bill?
Farmers are protesting because 3 new farm bills have been introduced by the Indian Government and is being passed which displeased farmers which at second hand violated their rights. So all because of these passed bills they started protesting and now this situation has taken a worst turn. They are urging the government to take back these farm bills and then only they would stop protesting.
3 New Farm Bills (2020) are explained as under:
Bill-1: “Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce Bill”
The previous rule of Farm Bills says that the farmers could only sell their products in either “Raithu (Farmer) Bazaar” or in “Town Mandis” but the Farm Bill 2020 says that now farmers can sell their products anywhere in India.
Bill-2: “Farmers Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill”
This bill says that, with a company or an organization; farmers can make a pre-agreement with that company or an organization and can sell their products based upon that agreement too.
Bill-3: “Amendment of Essential Commodities Bill”
With this amendment, the government is no more going to withhold or store some of the common essential commodities of the farmers.
Now, we will understand why the Indian government thought that these bills are suitable for farmers.
· Now because of this “farmers Produce Trade and Commerce Bill” any state where demand of their products is on high rate, any farmer can go to that state and can sell their products at a higher price. Regards to previous Bill, no farmer could go to any state of India to sell their products or commodities in other states of India. This all happens because of the first Farm Bill 2020 as there were so many restrictions on farmers according to the previous Bill.
· As Middle men of Mandis used to buy the products from farmers at a very low price and later on they sold those products at a higher price. This first Bill reduces the dependence of farmers on Middle men of Mandis.
· Because of Second Farm Bill “Farmers Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill” any farmer can make an agreement to sell their products and due to this, many private firms, companies, organizations are moving forward and started making agreements with the farmers to take their products and based on the assured price on the agreement; they can give them the money.
· Because of the “Amendment of Essential Commodities Bill” the chances of the variance in the supply demand chain also reduces as the government is not going to store much of the commodities of the farmers.
If the Indian Government has introduced and passed these bills for the betterment of the farmers then why these farmers are protesting against these Farm Bills?
1. The “Mandi” system works efficient and effectively in most of the northwest states and with this Mandi system also farmers were not facing any problems. They are worried and upset that this might create problems and difficulties in their normal activity and also few southern states are now accepting the proposed bill.
2. With the coming forward of more and more big private companies, the power of controlling of price for the farm products may go to the private firm’s hands and also private companies may not buy every product that a farmer produces. This leads to contract farming where the farmer needs to sow the crop that is demanded by the Agro Companies.
3. Now that the government is not storing much of the products, If an unwanted or unexpected demand for any farm product arrives; government can no more have the ability to control that demand and according to previous Bill only the government stores that products but with the passing of Farm Bill 2020; When government doesn’t store them, farmer should approach some private cold storages where they collect more money which becomes a burden to the farmer.
So, these are the cons or we can say reasons that every farmer is protesting against these passed Farm Bills (2020).
Conclusion
Farmers are getting afraid that these bills might create a disturbance and destroy their normal activity. Farmers are afraid and saying that these bills might affect the MSP (Minimum Selling Price) of the products and regards to this our respected Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi tweeted that these bills are just some additions and new findings so that farmers can sell their products taking along these Bills with the MSP as Minimum Selling Price. All the fears of the protesters can’t be negligible and it all depends upon time whether these fears are logical are not. Farmers want a written proposal in the parliament regarding MSP instead of tweet or any verbal promise. So, I think Government should try to adopt some ways to clear all the panic and fear amongst the farmers. All these fears of the farmers can get resolved as these farmers think about lives of the entire nation then why can’t we? Only by this means, they will stop protesting and return back to their families who are worried for them. At the end I would like to pray for them that they will achieve whatever they want and like to thank them who work in acres, not in hours.