BENGALURU: The Karnataka government is making efforts to withdraw the existing Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act and is likely to place it before the legislative session at Belagavi. The Congress has been opposing amendments to the APMC Act, that allows private individuals to set up markets outside APMC yards to procure goods from farmers.
In July this year, the state government made an attempt to withdraw the Act by placing the ‘Karnataka Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation and Development) (Amendment) Bill, 2023’. It failed to get clearance in the Upper House, as the Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (Secular) opposed it. Later, it was referred to a select committee headed by APMC Minister Shivananda Patil.
Official sources from the department said the select committee has completed meetings at a few places, including Kolar and Shivamogga, and is expected to hold a few more meetings. “Once it is done, the committee is likely to recommend withdrawal of the Act,” sources said. The government is likely to place this before the assembly during the session in Belagavi next month. “It will be done soon,” an official said.
The new proposed bill aims to bring back restrictions on agricultural trading and allow selling at APMCs. It had stressed on helping 162 APMCs across the state earn revenue through cess, year-long employment for workers, cart men and increased revenue for APMCs, which had reduced after the new Act was passed in Karnataka.
In May 2020, during BS Yediyurappa’s tenure as chief minister, the BJP government had passed the ordinance on the APMC Bill, which was passed in December 2020, and the Act was notified in January 2021.
Later, though the Union government repealed the farm laws, the then BJP government in the state did not. Many traders and Opposition leaders had pressured the Basavaraj Bommai regime to withdraw the Act, but it was not done. The Congress had been opposing it and even listed its withdrawal in its manifesto.