ISSUE DATE: April 26, 2021
UPDATED: April 17, 2021 14:27 IST
Procurement time, Wheat being loaded onto a truck at a mandi
in Amritsar during the Covid lockdown, May 2020
Faced with pressure from the Centre, Punjab is moving towards direct benefit transfer (DBT) to farmers for grain procured for the national granary this season. Fifteen other states that procure grain and other agricultural produce for central agencies, too, have started paying farmers directly or have agreed in principle to do so. This replaces the age-old system of paying farmers through ‘arthiyas’ or procurement agents.
Arthiyas facilitate trade in APMC (Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee) mandis for a fee. In Punjab, the total market charges for trade in agricultural produce is about 9.5 per cent of the crop value, including the 2.5 per cent commission paid to arthiyas. The state’s farmer unions, which are agitating against the new central farm laws, want the arthiya system to continue.
The PM’s speech: Reframing the farmers’ protest
The PM’s speech: Reframing the farmers’ protest | India Today Insight
In an address to the Rajya Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attempted to reframe the debate, alleging that the protests were being hijacked by left-leaning groups who oppose reform on principle
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UPDATED: February 9, 2021 10:02 IST
Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks in the Rajya Sabha during the Budget Session of Parliament, Feb 8 (ANI)
Amid the ongoing farmer’s protests, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose to use his reply in the Rajya Sabha on the motion of thanks on President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to articulate the need for the farm sector reforms. He also reiterated the government’s resolve not to repeal the new farm laws, as demanded by protesting farmers and opposition parties. Earlier, opposition parties had also demanded a separate discussion on the farmers’ protest, but later agreed to have it as a part of the
UPDATED: January 17, 2021 08:49 IST
New dawn: Farmers burn copies of the new farm laws while celebrating Lohri at the Ghazipur border protest site in Delhi (Photo: ANI)
As the national capital settled in for its coldest winter in the past 15 years, it did little to thaw the tensions between the government and the protesting farm unions. However, in a dramatic intervention on January 12, the Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramaniam suspended the implementation of the new farm laws and set up a four-member expert committee to hear the farm unions. But if they thought this would placate the agitating farmers, they were mistaken, as the farmers refused to appear before the expert committee, saying they would rather continue the dialogue with the Centre. They are also sticking to their demand of a complete rollback of the new Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection)