The Corporates Mercy

On 27th September, three agriculture reforms were approved by President Ram Nath Kovind.

It came into notice that farmers were not satisfied with the reforms and have started to protest against them. The Delhi police judged the situation as uncontrollable and proceeded to use tear gas on the peaceful protesters. The protestors made it clear that they have plenty of resources (i.e., food, water, shelter, clothing etc.) to keep protesting until their voices are heard and have even continue to block five major points in Delhi and Haryana.

What is the root cause of this disruption? The main cause of the disruption which shook the agricultural department and the government are the three bills which were passed for the so-called “betterment” of the industry.

Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill

This bill was implemented to give the freedom of choice of trade and purchase for farmers. It was created to promote a transparent and barrier-free trade inter-State as well as intra-State for farmers outside the APMC (Agricultural produce market committee). This bill restricts the state government from charging extra market fee beyond the APMC. This bill is said to help the farmers to sell their produce in any market and to improve their financial conditions.

The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services bill

This bill was structured to provide a national outline to protect farmers while engaging with wholesalers, exporters and other agri-business firms. The bill was passed with an aim to protect farmers from being taken advantage of by these agri-buisness firms and wholesalers by making the processes more transparent. It also aims to give farmers a price assurance and to help them collaborate with other corporates more freely.

Essential Commodities Act

This act was enacted in 1955 which said to ensure the delivery of some items or products. It restricts people from blackmarketing and hoarding. In 2020 this bill was modified , removing some produce like certain crops and grains from the bill.

Now comes the question- why are the farmers even protesting against these bills?

The farmers feel that through these bills the government is trying to create changes in the way the MSP (Minimum Support Price) is decided. Minimum Support Price is the support price that the government sets for the sale of agricultural produce.

They argue that the bills have given more power to the rich corporates only creating more trouble for the farmers. The farmers say that the government is aiming to increase the gap between the rich and poor further promoting capitalism. They don’t want the MSP to be decreased at all so that things go back to the way it was before.

In the government's outlook, they have done an exceptional job but somewhere there has been some malversation, which has led the farmers to challenge the policies of the government. If we take a look at the farmers point of view as per them, they have concerns with the fact that MSP (minimum support price) is decreasing because of these bills, which they obviously don't want to happen.

The farmers are concerned about their financial conditions worsening while the corporates get richer further increasing the already large gap between the rich and poor. The nation’s farmers cannot sit back and let the rich and powerful take advantage of them. The primary sector contributes 18% to India’s GDP, while it is not the majority, it is still one of the highest contributions of a nation’s primary sector to its GDP.

The farmers are the ones who are affected the most by these bills and the government should look into their concerns and better their conditions. As representatives of the citizens of this nation their job is to make sure the citizen’s demands are heard. The government must hold discussions with the farmers to improve their current situation.

The media should highlight the true facts and let the citizens of the country know about the situation and increase awareness on these protests.

As per other opposition such as Trinomial Congress's Derek O'Brien, termed it as the "murder of democracy". On 26th November, on the nationwide General Strike, 250 million people were involved in solidarity with the farmers of our nation. If the nation’s representatives chose to ignore these 250 million people then that will speak for itself on whether it is the death of the Indian democracy or whether it was a cold blooded murder.