Farmer protests: all four members of sc panel back new farm laws

The Supreme Court today stayed the implementation of the three contentious farm laws that farmers are currently protesting against along Delhi’s border. On Monday, the top court had observed

that these new pieces of legislation were passed without due consultation. Additionally, a bench led by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde appointed a committee to resolve the standoff between

the protesting farmers and the Narendra Modi government. The four members of the committee are Bharatiya Kisan Union president Bhupinder Singh Maan, policy expert Pramod Joshi, agricultural

economist Ashok Gulati, and Shetkari Sanghatana president Anil Ghanwat. The protesting farmers are demanding the repeal of the new laws and legal backing for the minimum support price

programme. On Monday, farmers unions leading the protest had _rejected_ the top court’s suggestion to appoint a committee to resolve the ongoing crisis. A look at the views of the four

members of the committee – two farmer leaders and two experts – formed by the court on Tuesday might give us a clue about why the farmer unions are skeptical of such a body resolving the

standoff. ASHOK GULATI In May 2020, when reports about the plans to reform Indian agriculture appeared in the media, Gulati _wrote_ in the_ Indian Express_ that the Modi government “deserves

compliments for finally introducing reforms in the country’s agri-marketing system”. He added that the reforms could be “a harbinger of major change in agri-marketing, a 1991 moment of

economic reforms for agriculture”. In 2015, Gulati was honoured with the Padma Shri by the president. He is now the Infosys Chair Professor for Agriculture at the Indian Council for Research

on International Economic Relations. In September, in a piece titled “__On farm bills, government must get its act together, but Opposition is misguided__” in the _Indian Express_, Gulati

argued that the rationale of the farm bills was to provide “greater choice and freedom to farmers to sell their produce and to buyers to buy and store, thereby creating competition in

agricultural marketing”. However, he cautioned that “sometimes good ideas/laws fail because of bad implementation”, referring to a scheme introduced by the late finance minister Arun Jaitley

to stabilise the prices of tomato, onion and potato in 2018. In November, four days after the farmer protests began, Gulati was asked by_ India Today_ anchor Rajdeep Sardesai why he thought

the protesting farmers were angry about the laws. Gulati said the farmers’ claims of corporate takeover of agriculture, erosion of the minimum support price protection, and the collapse of

the mandi system _rested_ on a “massive misinformation campaign”. In December, the economist _told_ the _Wire_ that the Centre should suspend the farm laws for six months and compensate

farmers, but not repeal the laws. PRAMOD KUMAR JOSHI Joshi, an agricultural policy expert and former director of the South Asia International Food Policy Research Institute, _told_ _Mint_ in

2014 that the Economic Survey’s recommendation to override the mandi system and amend the Essential Commodities Act – which one of the three new laws does – would “help farmers get better

returns and promote agricultural diversification, at least in those states where private markets are already developed”. “In poorer areas,” he added, “the private sector can now develop

markets.” In September this year, Joshi _told_ a panel discussion organised by Agrivision, an Israeli agri-business consulting firm, that the farm bills “would be helpful in creating

favorable conditions to make farming profitable”, adding that the farmers’ fears regarding the end of MSP were “baseless”. In December, in a co-authored _piece_ for the _Financial Express_,

Joshi held the farmers responsible for not resolving their grievances with the Modi government. “It is regrettable that the farmers’ agitation has not yet been resolved despite the Centre’s

positive response on considering genuine demands,” he wrote. Joshi also accused the protesters of changing goalposts before every negotiation with the Centre. He even contradicted one of the

observations the Supreme Court made on Tuesday. “Initially, it was claimed that the laws were framed without consulting farmers and farmer organisations,” he said, “this is an unfair claim.

The issue of deregulating agricultural markets has been under discussion and been debated for the last two decades.” Contra Joshi, the SC _told_ the government on Monday that it didn’t know

what consultative process had been followed before making the laws. “We are sorry to say that you, as the Union of India, are not able to solve the problem,” the court observed. “You have

made a law without enough consultation resulting in a strike. So you have to resolve the strike.” The same month, Joshi’s views on the farmers’ demand for a law on MSP were _carried_ by news

website _Goan Connection_. “It is very difficult to make MSP mandatory by law. It does not exist anywhere in the world,” he was quoted as saying. “A law on MSP would mean the right to MSP.

Those who do not get MSP would then be able to move court, and those not giving MSP would be penalised.” ANIL GHANVAT Ghanwat is the president of the Shetkari Sanghatan, a Maharashtra-based

farmers’ organisation founded by late farmer leader Sharad Joshi. His organisation claims that it’s opposed to the main demand of the protesting farmers – to repeal the new laws – but

advocates amendments to suit the protesters’ wishes. In October, the Shetkari Sanghatan even _held_ a demonstration in support of the farm bills. “The government can stay implementation of

the laws and amend them after discussions with farmers,” Ghanwat _told_ the _Hindu Businessline_ in December. “However, there is no need to withdraw these laws, which have opened up

opportunities for farmers.” Later that month, soon after meeting with agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Ghanwat _told_ the _Indian Express _that for the “first time in the last 40

years” farmers had a chance to benefit from the open market. “If under pressure from farmers in just two states the central government takes the decision to repeal the Act,” he added,

referring to Punjab and Haryana, “it would mean the end of the road for this (initiative).” BHUPINDER SINGH MANN Mann is a former Rajya Sabha MP and the national president of Bharatiya Kisan

Union (Mann). In December 2020, Mann led a delegation of farmer groups from Haryana, Maharashtra, Bihar, and Tamil Nadu to _meet_ Tomar and hand over a memorandum demanding that the three

new laws be implemented with a few amendments. “Reforms are needed in order to make agriculture competitive,” Mann told the _Hindu _afterwards. “But safeguards are needed to protect farmers,

and anomalies must also be corrected.” What specific amendments did Mann demand? In September 2020, _News18_ _reported_ that the farmer leader had written to Modi arguing that the new laws

would not help the farmers in their present form. They had created a fear, he wrote, that MSP will be removed. “Mann said, to remove the fear of ending MSP, an ordinance should be guaranteed

that farmers will get MSP,” said the _News18_ report. “All buyers must be legally bound to purchase on MSP. Whether they are government or private. Strict legal action should be taken

against the violators.” Mann is an old proponent of private players entering agriculture. In 2008, he and Shetkari Sangathana’s Sharad Joshi had _staged_ a demonstration against the Manmohan

Singh government’s decision to ban corporates from procuring wheat from Punjab and Haryana.