Hours after parliamentary proceedings began in the Lok Sabha on the first day of the ongoing Winter Session, the lower house of the Parliament passed the Bill to repeal the three farm laws. While the opposition parties demanded that discussion on the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021, the legislation was passed nevertheless.
The Farm Laws Repeal Bill has also been passed in the Rajya Sabha without any discussion.
“The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 and the Essential commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 are hereby repealed,” read the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021.
“These enactments were made for the overall socio-economic development of the farmers and rural sector … Even though only a group of farmers are protesting against these laws, the Government has tried hard to sensitise the farmers on the importance of the farm laws.”
Meanwhile, the opposition has alleged that the Bill to repeal the Farm Laws was passed without discussion. “3 Anti-Agriculture Laws were passed in Parliament without discussion & have been repealed without discussion,” tweeted Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala.
Interestingly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the government is ready to discuss each and every issue in the Parliament ahead of the Winter Session today.
Ten days back on November 19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced to repeal the three contentious farm laws.
The Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi informed the Bill to repeal three farm laws will be introduced in Rajya Sabha today only.
Also Read: Explained: Controversial farm laws and the procedure to repeal them
The decision has been taken following a year-long agitation by farmers on Delhi-UP borders.
The winter session of Parliament started today and 36 bills are expected to be passed. The Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021; the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021; the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (To replace an ordinance); the Central Vigilance Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (To replace an ordinance); the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2021 — are amongst the 36 legislative bills to be discussed in the winter session.
Criticising the central government, Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, tweeted: “At the very least the government owes the public an explanation for their haste in bulldozing these laws through. To pass laws& repeal them within a year prices lack of consultation& consideration, and ends up wasting taxpayers’ money& Parliament’s time. Govt must be accountable.”
Commenting over the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021, farmer leader Yogendra Yadav said, this Bill “Reads more like a bill to introduce three agri laws than to repeal these.”
Rakesh Tikait lists key issues
Last week on November 22, thousands of farmers gathered in Lucknow to highlight that the year-long agitation which claimed the lives of almost 700 cultivators was not merely about the three laws. They demand Minimum Support Price (MSP) to be legally binding.
Also Read: MSP Mandate: Three in five farmers want the minimum support price to be legally binding
Rakesh Tikait, one of the most popular farmers’ leader who has mobilised thousands of farmers in western Uttar Pradesh, told Gaon Connection that there are multiple issues that plague the farm sector in the country.
“We want this [Modi-led] government to work. We do not know why the Modi government took this decision so suddenly. The biggest question this time is deaths of farmers, guarantee of MSP [minimum support price], Seed Bill. We will discuss this with the government,” Tikait, leader of the Bhartiya Kisan Union, told Gaon Connection.
It is estimated that more than 700 farmers have died during the agitation against the contentious farm laws in the past one year. “The government has killed the farmers. They have to be accountable for it. Had they taken these laws back earlier, this martyrdom would have not resulted. The government will be held accountable for these deaths,” the farmer leader Tikait added.
Six demands
On November 21, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha sent an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, titled, ‘Your message to the nation and farmers’ message to you.
The letter, while welcoming the move of the prime minister to repeal the farm laws, also set forth other conditions the farmers wanted addressed. It highlighted three of the most urgent matters that the framers hoped would be resolved — making the Minimum Support Price a legal entitlement; withdrawing the draft Electricity Amendment Bill 2020/21 which aims to open up the power sector; withdrawal of the provision for penal action against farmers in the “Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act 2021”.
Also Read: Lucknow Kisan Mahapanchayat: A message to Prime Minister Modi from Samyukta Kisan Morcha
Besides these, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha has demanded that cases filed against farmers during the agitation be withdrawn; punitive measures be taken against Ajay Mishra Teni, minister of state for Home Affairs, who the farmers allege was responsible for the mowing down of innocent farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh last month on October 3, and to build a memorial for the 700 farmers who lost their lives in the course of the farmers’ agitation.
In the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, eight people including four farmers, two BJP workers, and a journalist Raman Kashyap were killed. Their families told Gaon Connection that the deceased would have been alive had the laws been repealed back then.
