BENGALURU: In a major setback to the Congress government, the APMC Bill, which was passed in the Legislative Assembly, was referred to the Select Committee of the Council on Tuesday following opposition by BJP and JDS members.
Dropping the amendments made to the APMC Act was one of the key promises made by the Congress party in its election manifesto. As BJP has more members in the Upper House, the ruling Congress could not get the Bill passed.
The Karnataka Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation and Development) (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which seeks to replace the previous BJP government’s Act brought through an ordinance in line with the Centre’s three farm laws that came into effect on September 27, 2020, was tabled in the Upper House by Minister for Agricultural Marketing Shivananda Patil.
The minister stated that the laws were repealed by the Union Government and they were in force only in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka. While other states, including some ruled by BJP, had withdrawn them.
“We are just implementing the laws that were in force in 2019. Due to the Act, we are unable to do a rate analysis or fix the minimum support price. It is not benefiting farmers as they are not earning more by selling their produce outside APMCs. Today, 162 APMCs are facing a crisis. There is a need to strengthen them and hence, this Bill has been tabled,” Patil said. He said the government received representations from 56 organisations of farmers seeking the withdrawal of changes made to the Act in 2020.
‘Bill will benefit middlemen’
BJP and JDS, however, opposed the Bill saying that it is the right of the farmer to sell his produce wherever he wants to. The Bill will benefit middlemen more than farmers. BJP MLC Kota Shrinivasa Poojari advised the government to withdraw the Bill or at least make appropriate changes keeping the option open for farmers to sell their produce anywhere.
As BJP opposed the Bill, Congress members said that they were opposing the stand of their leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi who withdrew the farm laws. Even JDS members, except GT Marithibbegowda, opposed the Bill.
The opposition parties proposed that the Bill be referred to the Select Committee. But Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs HK Patil said that it can’t be referred to the committee as the Council had discussed the Bill for three hours.
When Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti asked the government’s opinion on referring the Bill to the Select Committee, it replied in the negative. After this, Horatti initiated the voting process on the proposal to refer the Bill to the committee. While 31 members voted in favour of the proposal, 21 voted against it.