Mr. Sanjay Vijayvargiya

Even if the bills are repealed, the farmer’s condition won’t improve: Mr. Sanjay Vijayvargiya |Farmers Bills & Protests

• The three farm bills are not separate and need to be understood as a single document and even if these three bills are repealed, there will be no change in the farmer’s condition in our country.
• MSP is a majorly a welfare adopted by the government on yearly basis. Hence, even after the repealing of the bills, MSP can be taken back by the government as it is not a constitutional guarantee.
• If we try to understand the three bills in a single document, there are larger questions that remain unaddressed. Such as the creation and mechanism of a single agriculture market, regulating e-commerce platforms and protecting rights of the farmers involved, food security, and creation of food reserves.
• There is a threat in terms of certain situations in our country but we need to ask ourselves whether these provisions or acts are going to compromise the food security and food sovereignty of our nation.

Mr. Nilotpal Pathak

Before introducing the farm bills a wider consultation was needed: Mr. Nilotpal Pathak | Farmers Bills & Protests

• The problems in the farm sector of India are not only at the input level. Instead, there are problems at multiple levels and to be more precise, across the entire supply chain.
• Our productivity in agriculture in the best of the cases stands nowhere when compared to the best of the world. According to several reports, India’s average productivity in the farm sector is half of the global average.
• The supply chain itself is highly unorganized and whatever the governments have done over the past 70 years of Independence has not brought in the desired results.
• Both the farmers and the government need to go back to the drawing board and understand each other’s perspective and try to arrive at a more realistic solution, more aligned with the interests of the consumers and the farmers alike. And ultimately a draft is adopted which should not be a burden on the taxpayers.

Mr. Masroor Lodi

The government and the farmers should try to understand the arguments of the other side: Mr. Masroor Lodi | Farmers Bills & Protests

• In situations like ‘farmers protests’, opening up the communication channels should be the first step. Delaying the communication channel will only aggravate the problem. Hence, the government and the farmers should communicate with each other.
• India is a country where several parties are always interested in an issue, hence there is a good chance of chaos in the communication. This makes it necessary for the farmers and the government to build confidence and trust in each other.
• If we continue with the dialogues and the stalemate is not broken, the best thing would be to take a break. So that both the sides get some time to think and come up with some rational arguments.
• Creating scenarios can also help. This is something which has not come from the government clearly. If the government is able to spell out its vision correctly the farmers will better be able to understand.

Ms. Jyotsna Priyadarshini

Making reforms in only APMCs will not help farmers: Ms. Jyotsna Priyadarshini | Farmers Bills & Protests

• The farmers produce trade and commerce bill 2020 allows a barrier-free intra and inter-state trade of the farm produce. The farmers fear these bills may ultimately lead to the closure of the APMCs.
• Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 encourages contract farming. This law will allow farmers to enter into agreements with agri-firms or large buyers to produce a crop for a great price. The farmers are concerned this will take away the safety net of MSP from them.
• Essential commodities bill 2020 talks about hoarding, as it proposes that economic agents can stock food articles freely without fear of being prosecuted. This could result in artificial price fluctuation.
• Without strong institutional arrangements, the free markets may harm Lakhs of unorganized small farmers who have been remarkably producing and supporting the economy even during this pandemic.

Mr. Avichal Sinha

Protestors main concern is MSP and closure of the APMC mandis: Mr. Avichal Sinha | Farmers Bills & Protests

• These bills will help farmers sell their produce outside the state while providing them other benefits such as e-commerce trading. Also with contract farming, the government wants to encourage private firms to take part in the agriculture sector.
• The recently passed farm bills will prove to be of great value in the future as these can avail farmers a great number of facilities. For example, this can initiate the use of high-end technologies in agriculture.
• In one of the provisions of these bills, it is stated that if there is any conflict between the farmers and their buyers then it should be solved at SDM level only and the farmers can’t go to any civil court to further appeal. This is a matter of concern for farmers.
• A major question that arises is whether the state governments will suffer a loss of revenue due to the removal of cess from the farmers.

Ms. Neelu Soni

The government should avoid putting an unnecessary burden on the economy: Ms. Neelu Soni | Farmers Bills & Protests

• The agitation of farmers in the national capital of India is not because of the single issue of the farm bills but this is a result of all the problems our farmers have been facing for decades.
• Urbanization in India is only about 28%. These bills cannot make agriculture a billion or trillion dollar economy till the government focuses on initiating urbanization in our country because a major chunk of the population in our country is directly or indirectly related to agriculture.
• The government should facilitate small and marginal farmers and try to build possibilities that can help them make farming a less complicated business.
• ‘Fly light, touch the height’ should be the motto of the government. It should avoid putting an unnecessary burden on the economy and the farmers. If the government tries to make some amendments in the act, the problem of the farmers can be solved.

Ms. Madhavi Patel

The recent farmer protests are extremely misleading: Ms. Madhavi Patel |Farmers Bills & Protests

• Farmers are protesting on the two basic grounds: the APMC mandis are going to be closed and the MSP will go away. But the three bills are not going to remove the APMC rather a parallel structure will be created where farmers can go and sell their produce outside the APMC and the state as well.
• Also, MSP is not the bigger question because we have MSP on 22 commodities only. And MSP itself is also a very exploitative system as we have a national MSP and we don’t have a regional MSP.
• In Punjab and Haryana, the protests are the highest as the Punjab government lays almost 8% of the tax from farmers which accounts for approximately 1,750 crore rupees yearly. The Punjab government is earning out of APMC mandis and they fear the APMC mandis will be removed.
• The central government should focus on educating farmers about the new laws and the existing laws as well. And we should also broaden our horizons and bring reforms in the entire agriculture sector.

Mr. Trishna Roy

The bills are not in favor of the farmers: Mr. Trishna Roy | Farmers Bills & Protests

• The recently passed farm bills are of no use to the farmers because selling their produce outside the state can increase the burden of transport costs on the farmers which is only going to aggravate their situation.
• And if they don’t get better prices for their produce even after transporting it to the other states, they have no option left other than selling their produce for less prices because the government has not arranged any reserves such as APMC godown or cold storage for farmers.
• The farmers are also protesting against the second farm bill which talks about contract farming as they fear the MSP safeguard will be taken away from them. They fear the companies can arm-twist them into selling their produce at a price they want to give.
• According to the protestors, these bills are benefitting only big industrialists and not the farmers.

Mr. Rajnish Kumar

The farm bills can facilitate farmers in a great way: Mr. Rajnish Kumar | Farmers Bills & Protests

• The farmers should understand that the government has introduced new bills but has not removed the previous laws. Hence, they should not fear the removal of the APMC mandis and the MSP.
• These bills are facilitating the farmers and giving them an option to sell their produce apart from APMC mandis and get in direct agreements with the agri-firms which can get them better prices for their produce.
• By removing the middlemen the government is trying to reduce the burden of taxes from the farmers. This can change the perspective of young generations and can encourage them to take part in the agriculture sector.
• The farmers protest in Delhi is a result of misunderstandings. The government should focus on informing the farmers about the laws through communication channels to resolve their standoff.

Ms. Geethu Prakash

Just introducing three farm bills won’t be enough: Ms. Geethu Prakash | Farmers Bills & Protests

• Reforms in agriculture have been overdue. There has been a retreat in the last 10 years in favor of agriculture but very few concrete steps have been taken.
• The APMC mandis were never filled with good samaritans and neither is MSP religiously enforced everywhere. Just the passing of these three bills won’t be enough. The success of liberalizing the market will hint at the effective implementation, constant monitoring, and timely action.
• Accelerating research and academic excellence could bring in the best in class technologies and can multiply farmer’s income.
• As far as the APMC and commissioned agents are concerned, the government needs to work on a clear roadmap to modernize them by facilitating them in providing value-added services. They could be leverage to setup grading and sorting, warehousing, cold-chain, etc.

Mr. Subhadeep Majumder

The way farm bills were passed in the parliament was not appropriate: Mr. Subhadeep Majumder | Farmers Bills and Protests

• The new bills talk about removal of cess from the farmers. If APMC won’t get any tax from the farmers, they certainly won’t buy their produce. And hence the companies will take advantage of the situation and buy their produce at their own price.
• More than 80% of the farmers don’t even sell their produce outside the district then how can the government expect them to sell outside the state.
• The government is giving a committee as a solution for farmer protests but we know how good the committees work. We have seen different committees on different issues. We have never got the desired output from the committees.
• The government should communicate with the protesting leaders and unions and should come out with some legit solutions and accept the demands of the farmers.