Rejecting the so-called reforms announced by the Central Government for the agriculture sector as yet another brazen attempt to erode and destabilize the country’s federal structure, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Friday warned that it could pave way for disbanding the MSP regime as well as the foodgrain procurement regime, triggering unrest among the state’s farmers.
Strongly opposing the Centre’s move to suppress the rights of the States, as enshrined under the Indian Constitution, the Chief Minister said that Punjab would fight any steps on the part of the Central Government to weaken the federal structure of the country through such direct and detrimental interference in the well-established agriculture produce marketing system of the State.
“Such a measure shall severely and adversely impact the nation’s food security, which Punjab’s hard working and selfless farmers have sustained ever since the green revolution,” he warned.
Pointing out that the country’s federal structure envisages well-defined roles and responsibilities for the Centre and the states, Capt Amarinder said that under the Constitutional framework, agriculture is a State subject, and “the Union Government has no powers to make any legislation to deal with the dynamics of agricultural production, marketing and processing”.
These are State matters, which individual States are best placed to handle and manage, he said, describing the ‘Farming Produce, Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020’ as a “highly ill-conceived move” on the part of the Central Government.
The Chief Minister said, “The move would damage Punjab…The Centre’s habit of taking sudden decisions and forcing them on states, without taking their views into account, is violative of the very federal framework.”
“Centre’s such actions during the Covid pandemic crisis can have serious economic, social and law and order consequences. Farmers will not gain but will actually suffer at the hands of traders due to legislative change.
The Centre has not even created any dispute redressal mechanism, and had not consulted the State Governments, which would be left to handle the consequences of this hasty action,” said Capt Amarinder.
Citing the well-oiled agriculture produce marketing system in Punjab, the Chief Minister said that presently, the entire trade of agriculture produce is carried out within the notified markets or mandi yards through a system licensed under ‘The Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1961 (APMC Act)’,.
“The Government has already made necessary amendments to the Punjab APMC Act to provide for setting up of regulated mandis even in private sector for specific produces.
In fact, sale-purchase of about Rs 80,000 crore is transacted annually in Punjab’s market yards, which effectively support 65 percent of the State’s population that is dependent on agriculture and agro produce,” he pointed adding that as such, there is no further need of a Central Law to interfere with already existing well established marketing system in Punjab.
SAD ensured MSP, assured marketing will continue
Declaring that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) would never compromise on the issue of Minimum Support Price (MSP) and assured marketing for farmers’ produce, especially for paddy and wheat, the party president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday made it clear that SAD has already ensured that the present assured marketing and MSP regime for the farmers’ produce will continue.
Sukhbir minced no words to say that Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh “lied in broad daylight on the issue of the APMC. He has, in fact, already given his assent to the main provisions of the Act on August 14, 2017”.
“Let there be no confusion on this. SAD will never tolerate any deviation from the principle of assured marketing and MSP. We have already ensured that there are no compromises on these issues in the Act,” said Sukhbir.
“Federalism and interests of the panth, Punjab and the farmers form the four pillars on which the edifice of the Shiromani Akali Dal stands and there will never be any compromise on any one of these.
No sacrifice is too high for us for protecting these pillars through peaceful democratic ways. Nothing is dearer to us than our principles on these issues,” he said adding that farmers form the backbone of Punjab and SAD.
He said that SAD has already ensured that the new APMC Act provides adequate, inbuilt, and foolproof guarantees for the continuation of MSP and assured marketing regime on a long term basis.
“We have ensured that this regime will continue in its present form, in addition to opening up new possibilities and creating new platform to increase competition for the farmers produce”, he said.