SC panel had opined against repeal of farm law: Member
NEW DELHI: A committee set up by the Supreme Court last year amid a farmers’ uprising against a set of now-repealed agricultural laws had recommended against scrapping them, a member of the SC panel has said.
The member, Anil Ghanwat, a pro-reform farm leader belonging to the Shetkari Sangathana, said the panel had instead proposed several changes to “improve the laws”.
Its key recommendations included scrapping the Essential Commodities Act and abolition of mandi cess in both state-run agricultural markets and the proposed new freer markets.
The panel said exclusive farmers’ courts should be set up to settle disputes of cultivators. Significantly, it argued for making procurement of farm produce at MSPs a “prerogative” of state governments.
“The implication of shifting the responsibility of procurement to states at their own cost would have decimated the MSP procurement system and regulated markets,” Ramandeep Singh Mann, a farm expert who opposed the laws, said.
Ghanwat said he was revealing the contents of the report after writing to the SC thrice to make the report public to “educate farmers”. He told HT there was no “clause of confidentiality” imposed on members.
On January 12, 2021, HT reported that the four-member committee of the SC, which included top economists and farm leaders, were people who mostly advocated market-led economic reforms, according to their publicly-held positions.
“...our stand that the committee members were biased and pro-farm laws has proven to be correct,” said Balbir Singh Rajewal, a leader who opposed the laws. Farmers argued the laws would leave them vulnerable to exploitation by big corporations.
The government held that the laws were necessary to boost investments in agriculture.
THE PANEL SAID FARMERS’ COURTS SHOULD BE SET UP TO SETTLE DISPUTES OF CULTIVATORS