NEW DELHI: Amidst the backdrop of still ongoing farmers’ protest surrounding the National Capital Region, the Government of India’s principal economic adviser Sanjeev Sanyal said on Wednesday that the government is committed to implement farm laws as it is beneficial for small farmers.
“We removed a lot of unnecessary regulations... Same thing we did with farm laws. These laws have been debated for 20-30 years … there may be some adjustment needed to make it more smooth for certain segments of the farmers but overall we remain committed to implementing these farm laws in spirit because they are good particularly for small farmers,” Sanyal said.
The government’s economic advisor was speaking at a virtual conference organised by Public Affairs Forum of India. The government had, in September last year, brought three laws—Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
These three laws have been projected by the Centre as part of major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country. However, the protesting farmers have expressed their apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of the MSP and do away with the mandi (wholesale market) system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates. Sanyal clarified that existing mandis are not going to disappear but that they would remain in existence and compete with others.