Tawqeer Hussain
In a major development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Friday morning announced that the Central Government will take steps to repeal all three contentious farm laws.
“We have decided to repeal three farm laws. We will finish the constitutional process to repeal the law in upcoming Parliament session”, the prime minister said while addressing the Nation this morning.
The Prime Minister said that though the laws were enacted for the benefit of farmers, the Government could not convince them, and a section was opposing the laws.
“We tried our best to explain to farmers. We were even ready to modify the laws, suspend them too. The matter reached the Supreme Court as well. We haven’t been able to explain to our farmers. This is not a time to blame anyone. I want to tell you that we have taken the farm laws back. We are repealing the farm laws”, the Prime Minister said.
Meanwhile responding to the announcement, Farmers leader Rakesh Takait said that the protests will not end until the procedure to repeal the farm laws will not be completed in the Parliament.
The agitation will not be withdrawn immediately, we will wait for the day when agricultural laws will be repealed in Parliament. Along with MSP, the government should also discuss other issues of farmers,” Rakesh Takait tweeted in Hindi.
Farmers Coalition body Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), welcomes the announcement made by the prime Minister Narendra Modi and called it a ‘historic victory’.
“We welcome PM Narendra Modi’s decision to repeal all 3 anti-farmer laws; will wait for the announcement to take effect through due parliamentary procedures. If this happens, it will be a historic victory of the one year long farmers struggle in India,”: said a statement issued by Samyukta Kisan Morcha
The three contentious farm laws -Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; (2) Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020; and (3)Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 – enacted by the Parliament in September 2020, have been stoutly opposed by several farmers organizations. Several farmers groups across the nation
have been holding widespread protests and agitations for over a year since the passing of these laws demanding that they be scrapped.
In January 2021, the Supreme Court had stayed the implementation of these laws until further orders, to facilitate a process of negotiation between the Centre and the protesting groups. The Supreme Court had also constituted a committee to hold the talks. However, the leaders of the farmers unions boycotted the committee.
The main grievance raised by the farmers is that the laws will result in the dismantling of the state-run Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees, and will disrupt the Minimum Support Price mechanism. The protesting farmers fear that the laws will pave the way for corporate exploitation. A batch of petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the validity of these farm laws and also questioning the competence of the Parliament in enacting the same.
(With inputs from agencies)
