Give Reforms a Chance

Context:  Central farm bills provides states an opportunity to liberate the farmer from archaic systems.

States powers in matters of agriculture:

• Power to legislate on a State list: States can take actions to address issues related to agriculture since it is a subject on the State list.

• Article 254 of the Constitution: Using the provisions of this article, the Punjab government has passed its own bills to nullify some provisions of the central acts.

• Judicial Remedy: Petitions have been filed in supreme court claiming that the central laws infringe upon the jurisdiction of state governments 

Arguments favouring Centre’s intervention in Agriculture:

• Centre decides and announces the support prices: for major crops, for the entire country and also takes the decision on issues like bank loan waivers.

• Obligation to international agreements: and multilateral trade in agricultural products under the Union government’s domain.

• Agricultural produce had a prominent role in refraining India to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

• Constitutional limitation on states: Entry 33 in the concurrent list empowers both governments to legislate on production, trade and supply of a range of agricultural foodstuffs and raw material. 

• Sarkaria Commission had opined on the Union government to use Entry 33.

Significance of Centre’s Agri-reforms:

• Farmer Centric: 

• Freedom for farmers from the archaic provisions of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC)  Act and EC Act and removes the middlemen system

• Continuation of the safety net of Minimum Support Price (MSP).

• Farmers can get the benefits of demand-led prices.

• Opportunity for the states: to increase investment in private infrastructure to create supply chains and ensure greater farmer participation through farmer producer organizations.

Conclusion: The Centre’s reforms are certainly the 1991 moment for Indian agriculture which will liberate the Indian farmer as no other action of government has done in the last five decades.