India ready to put controversial laws on hold for 18 months | Sunday Observer
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India ready to put controversial laws on hold for 18 months

24 January, 2021
India ready to put controversial laws on hold for 18 months
India ready to put controversial laws on hold for 18 months

NEW DELHI, Jan. 23 - India’s government has offered to put three controversial farm laws, that have sparked major protests, on hold for 18 months.

Farmers have been camped at Delhi’s borders since November 26 to protest against these laws that will further open up agriculture to the free market.

Farmer groups who are pressing for a complete repeal of the laws say they will consider the offer.

This follows several rounds of failed talks between both sides.

Talking to the media after the meeting, farmer group leaders said the government was ready to form a special panel to review demands for minimum support price (MSP), and the laws.

The farmer groups have repeatedly said that they would settle for nothing less than a repeal of the laws, and the government has ruled out any rollback.

The government has said the reforms will not hurt farmers. But farm groups say the laws threaten decades-old concessions and subsidies they receive, thwart their bargaining power and expose them to the vagaries of the market and big corporate companies.

“We’ll hold a meeting and take a decision on the proposal,” farmer leaders told news agency ANI.

India’s Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told reporters on Wednesday that the farmer leaders were taking this proposal “seriously”. “I feel the talks are progressing in the right direction and there is a possibility of finding a resolution on January 22,” the minister said.

Earlier India’s Supreme Court stayed the implementation of the laws “until further notice”, and appointed an independent committee to broker a deal between the farmers and the government.

The farmers, however, have not accepted the committee saying that all of its panel members are pro-government. One of the members has also stepped down.

Meanwhile, farmers’ leaders are likely to meet police officials in the capital, Delhi, today to discuss a lorry rally on January 26, India’s Republic Day.

The government has opposed the rally saying that it will hinder Republic Day celebrations but farmer groups remain insistent on holding the protest rally where they say tens of thousands are expected to show up.

The Supreme Court has refused to intervene in the matter after the government approached the top court. The court asked police officials to take necessary calls on law and order in the matter.

Taken together, the laws loosen rules around sale, pricing and storage of farm produce - rules that have protected India’s farmers from the free market for decades.

One of the biggest changes is that farmers will be allowed to sell their produce at a market price directly to private players - agricultural businesses, supermarket chains and online grocers. Most Indian farmers currently sell the majority of their produce at government-controlled wholesale markets or mandis at assured floor prices.

The reforms give farmers the option of selling outside of this so-called “mandi system”.

But it’s unclear how this will play out in reality. Farmers are mainly concerned that this will eventually lead to the end of wholesale markets and assured prices, leaving them with no back-up option. If they are not satisfied with the price offered by a private buyer, they cannot return to the mandi or use it as a bargaining chip during negotiations.

– BBC

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