Explained: Why are the farm laws being repealed

Prime Minister
Narendra Modi announced Friday that the Centre is going to repeal three contentious
farm laws that had found immense opposition from farmers in western India,
especially the states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The move signaled
the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government bowing to farmers’ pressures ahead
of assembly elections in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh next year.

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The repeal of the
three agriculture laws brings to an end nearly a year of protests which often
sparked political maelstroms that had an impact across the nation. On the day
the prime minister announced that the government will repeal the farm laws in
the next parliamentary session, here’s a look at what the three farm laws were,
the demands made by farmers and why the Centre decided to repeal them.

Also Read | ‘Fear of elections’: Oppositions on Centre repealing farm laws

The three farm
laws

The three
contentious farm laws brought by the Union government include The Farmers’
Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers (Empowerment
and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and
Essential Commodities (Amendment Act) 2020.

The first law, The
Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, sought to
open sale of crops to private players outside the ‘mandi’ process facilitated
by the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) among other things.

The second law,
Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm
Services Act, 2020, intended to create a national contract farming framework
for farmers to enter into written contracts with companies. One of the most
contentious aspects of this law was the act’s dispute settlement mechanism that
posed hurdles in farmers approaching the judiciary.

The third law, the
Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020, removed a number of items from the
list of essential commodities, such as cereals, pulses, oilseeds and edible oils,
thereby removing stockpiling limits on such items.

Farmers
demands

The new laws found
stiff opposition from farmers in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.
Protesting farmers have been camping at the Delhi border since November 26 last
year, demanding the repeal of the laws. The farmers also sought a legal
assurance on minimum support price.

The Centre gives
in

On Friday, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation saying that the government could
not explain the farm laws to the farmers. The farm laws had come in for
greatest criticism from agricultural communities in Punjab, many of whom are
Sikhs. The PM made the announcement on Guru Nanak Jayanti, an auspicious day
for Sikhs.

Political
observers believe that the upcoming elections in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh and
the electoral impact of the farm protests prodded the Centre to finally
capitulate to the demands to repeal farm laws.