Democratise the economy for economic justice

Act 2020; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities Amendment Act, 2020. It is a widely held view that these three laws violated the legislative jurisdiction enshrined in the Constitution. Agriculture, as per the Constitution, is a state subject and consequently, the state assemblies can legislate on it. Hence, it is illegal to legislate by the Union government. An important feature of these three laws is that these laws provide unregulated enormous powers to mega-corporates to enter into trade, storage of food grains and sign contracts with farmers.

Despite claims of both sides, deadlock continues

Farmer unions have been opposing these three laws since their enactment through the ordinance route. Since November 26, 2020, the farmers are protesting on the outskirts of the national capital, Delhi. There were 11 rounds of negotiations without any agreement. Even a month after the last round, despite the claim of both the government and the collective leadership of the farmers that they agree on talks, the deadlock continues.

During the negotiations, the government admitted flaws in the three laws and in the 11th round of discussions, the government agreed to suspend the operation of these laws up to one and a half years. However, prior to this, the Government of India, while participating in a hearing on the writ petition filed before the Supreme Court, accepted the order of the court for suspension of the operations of the three laws and the constitution of a committee for suggesting in consultation with the stakeholders the amendments to improve the flaws in the three laws. This order has been conceived by legal experts as moving the court in an uncharted territory.

Since without examining illegality as per the constitutional jurisdictions, the court has helped both the Union government for handling the farmer protest and indirectly assuring the big businesses unhindered access to the agriculture sector. In addition to that the judgment of the highest court stating that the children and women should go home, in fact, has infringed on their right to equality. This is tantamount to snatching the citizens’ right to protest.

Protest has created space for dialogue

The farmers’ protest has created a space for dialogue to democratise the economy. It is one of the largest peaceful protests in terms of the number of participants in the past one century. This protest has articulated the argument of economic justice that is granted by the Constitution but being trespassed by the Union government. The Centre has overstepped its constitutional jurisdiction to allow mega-corporates to exploit the agriculture sector. These corporate have been known for being engaged in rent seeking and not generating enough new economic activities that allow the Indian economy to offer new opportunities of employment and expansion of business.

Consequently, it has resulted into jobless growth in India. Why this has been happening is due to a gridlock between the elected representatives and the big business for generating opportunities for their mutual benefits at the expense of the public.

This social and economic unjust situation will be perpetuated by the new farm laws. The ongoing farmers’ protest has not only exposed the gridlock between democratically elected representatives and the big business but also shown how the three farm laws will be detrimental to the larger interest of the public (consumers) and primary agriculture producers (sellers).

Withstanding the might of mega-corporates

All over the world, the experience of the operations of the mega-corporates in agriculture markets has shown the exploitation of the farmers. The small holder Indian agriculture will not withstand the might of mega-corporates. The withdrawal, as is obvious from the Essential Commodities Amendment Act, 2020, of the Union government from food procurement will leave 86% of small and marginal farmers vulnerable to fluctuations of crop prices and threat to their livelihood.

To save consumers and producers from unhindered and unregulated operation of the mega-corporates, there is a dire need to step in by nonstate actors to develop solidarity to discipline both the government and the big business. The participation of the citizenry in democratising the economy and polity is required not only for ensuring economic justice but also for building a peaceful and sustainable democratic coexistence.

TO SAVE CONSUMERS AND PRODUCERS FROM UNHINDERED AND UNREGULATED OPERATION OF THE MEGA-CORPORATES, THERE IS A DIRE NEED TO STEP IN BY NON-STATE ACTORS TO DEVELOP SOLIDARITY TO DISCIPLINE BOTH THE GOVERNMENT AND THE BIG BUSINESS