End of arhtiya raj: Food supplies dept wants APMC Act tweaked
CROP MSP DISBURSAL Move a step forward to implement Centre’s directions to credit MSP directly into farmers’ accounts
CHANDIGARH:THE Punjab food and civil supplies department has asked the state government to amend the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act that mandates the arhtiyas (commission agents) to disburse crop payments to farmers, taking forward the Centre’s directions to credit minimum support price (MSP) in the forthcoming wheat procurement season directly into the growers’ accounts.
The amended APMC Act will sound a death knell for the monopoly of arhtiyas over the crop payment system in the state and is likely to throw at least 22,000 of them out of business.
Amendments also have been sought in the provisions of the Act that say the payment to the farmer would be made by arhtiyas through an “account payee cheque”. “The arhtiyas shall make payment to the seller immediately after the weighing is over,” says rule 11 of Section 24 of the existing Act.
The department sent communication to the state government in this regard last week, it was learnt.
Recently, the Union ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution had directed Punjab to credit crop payment directly into the farmers’ account through public finance management system (PFMS) as mandated by the central government.
Principal secretary (food and civil supplies) KAP Sinha said the state assembly will have to amend the Act so as to implement the Centre’s orders.
In December, the Union ministry in a demi-official letter to Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh had asked to implement the system of online payment
As the Centre has decided to implement it, we would not oppose it. But the age-old relations between the arhtiyas and the farmers will suffer. VIJAY KALRA, president, Punjab Commission Agents Association
to the farmers from the 2020-21 rabi marketing season (wheat procurement).
The state government initially resisted the Centre’s move, terming arhtiyas as an important link in Punjab’s agrarian economy. The CM had sought a relaxation in the directions citing large scale of operation and inadequate know-how among the arhtiyas. “No relaxation will be accorded and the state will have to implement the direct online payment system without fail,” wrote the ministry in the letter, rejecting the CM’S plea.
The APMC Act provisions say the arhtiyas should make payment to farmers within 72 hours of crop purchase while the procurement agencies have to pay the middlemen within 48 hours.
Now, the arhtiyas’ role will be restricted to cleaning of crop and other mandi-related activities for which they would get a ‘dami’ (commission) of 2.5%.
The arhtiya system came into existence in the mid 1960s Green Revolution started in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh and the MSP regime kickstarted.
A financially strong community that acts as a moneybag for politicians during elections, the arhtiyas were making efforts to act as a link between the central and state procurement agencies and control the annual disbursal of wheat and paddy MSP to the tune of ₹60,000 crore.
Vijay Kalra, president of the Commission Agents Association, Punjab, said there was no need for the new system. “As the Centre has decided to implement it, we would not oppose it. But the age-old relations between the arhtiyas and the farmers will take a hit and agriculture will also suffer,” he said.