NEW DELHI: A day after the AAP-led Punjab government rejected the Centre’s draft policy framework that seeks to establish a “unified national market for agriculture produce”, farmer organisations led by Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Friday appealed to all states to do the same saying the central move is more dangerous than the three repealed farm laws.
The Morcha, which spearheaded the year-long protests against the farm laws during 2020-21, also decided to hold ‘Kisan Mahapnachayts’ at Tohana in Haryana and Moga in Punjab on Jan 4 and 9, respectively, to adopt resolutions to begin mass struggles till the withdrawal of the Centre’s draft policy framework.
“The proposals in the new framework facilitate the backdoor resurrection of the three controversial farm laws, which had been repealed due to concerns over their potential to corporatize agriculture, the food industry, and the public distribution system,” said P Krishnaprasad of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), one of the constituents of the SKM.
The agriculture ministry recently came out with the draft national policy framework on agriculture marketing suggesting states to move towards a “unified national market for agriculture produce” through single licensing /registration system and single fee. It sent the draft to all states, seeking their views on the proposal.
Besides suggesting a number of reform measures for barrier free agri-trade with an approach of “ease of doing trade”, the draft also pitches for constituting an “empowered agricultural marketing reform committee” of state ministers on the lines of such a committee on GST to push the states to adopt the reform provisions.
Though the draft emphasises that the key idea behind the proposal is to “build a vibrant marketing ecosystem in the country wherein farmers of all categories find a market of their choice to realise best price for their produce”, the SKM said the proposals, if implemented, will “erode the federal rights of the state governments” and destroy the interests of the farmers, agricultural workers, petty producers and small traders since there is no provision in it to ensure minimum support price (MSP) and minimum wage to farmers and workers, respectively.
The Morcha in a statement opposing the draft proposals said the reform measures also propose deregulation, effectively allowing the private sector – specifically, corporate agri-businesses – to establish dominance over production, processing, and marketing.
Allowing setting up of private wholesale markets; permitting wholesale direct purchase by processors, exporters, organised retailers, bulk buyers from farm-gate; declaring warehouses/silos /cold storages as deemed market; allowing establishment and operation of private e-trading platform; single time levy of market fees across the state; and rationalization of market fee and commission charges are some of the other key suggestions of the govt in the draft proposal.
