FARM LAWS

PRESENTER NAME
ANITHA ANYAM
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Introduction
In June 2020, the president of India promulgated 3 Farm
ordinances and in September 2020 the parliament of India
enacted the 3 Farm Laws basically replacing the 3
ordinances. Farmers particularly from Punjab and Haryana
protesting against these 3 Farm Laws. This month
supreme court of India stayed the implementation of 3
Farm Laws by appointing 4 members committee to
mediate between Farmers and Government of India.
 AGENDA
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1.The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce(promotion

and Facilitation) Act-2020
2.The Farmers(Empowerment and Production) Agreement of
Price and Assurance and Farm Service Act-2020
3.Essential commodities(Amendment) Act-2020
1.The Farmers’ Produce Trade and
Commerce(promotion and Facilitation) Act-2020
 Farmers barrier-free intra-state and inter state trade of farmer’s produce.
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 Prohibits state governments or APMC from levying fees, cess or any other
charges on farmers produce.
What are APMC? 6
 The agriculture markets in India are mainly regulated by state Agricultural
Produce Marketing Committee(APMC) laws.
 Basically the objective of setting up APMC’S was to ensure fair trade practice
between buyers and sellers for effective price of farmers’ produce.
 APMC’S work:
 1.To regulate the trade of farmers’ produce by providing licenses to buyers,
commission agents and private markets.
 2.Imposing levy market fees or any other charges on such trade
 3.To providing required infrastructure within their markets to facilitate the trade
within .
Problems related with APMCs
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 Most of the APMCs have a limited number of traders operating, which leads to
carterlization and reduces competition.
 The number of unnecessary deductions like commission charges and market fees.
Traders, commission agents and other torts organise themselves into association
which don’t allow easy entry of new persons into market yards and makes the
market difficult to compete.
 It restricts more buyers
 It restricts private markets
 It stopping direct sale to businesses and retail consumers
 Non promotion of online transactions
 Lack of competition in the system
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2.The Farmers(Empowerment and Production)
Agreement of Price and Assurance and Farm Service
Act-2020
 The act seeks to provide farmers with a framework to engage in contract 10
farming, where farmers can enter into a direct agreement with a buyer(before
sowing season) to sell the produce to them at pre-determined prices.
 The maximum period is defined for 5 years, unless the production cycle is not
more than 5 years.
 Pricing of farmers products:
 The pricing of the agriculture produce should be mentioned in the agreement
 For pricing subject to variations
 Guaranteed price for the produce must be defined for any reference additional
amount above the guaranteed price must be clearly defined in the agreement.
 The rest process of price determination must be also mentioned in the agreement
 The dispute settlement mechanism which is also defined must be followed.
3.Essential commodities(Amendment)
Act-2020

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 The act removes cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onion, and potatoes from
the list of essential commodities.
 This essential commodities act, 1995 empowers the central government to enlist certain
commodities like: food items, fertilizers, and petroleum products any other products
which suddenly becomes of mass use as essential commodity.
 The central government if it wants to ensure smooth supply of aforementioned goods
can regulate prohibit the production, supply, distribution, trade, and commerce of pre-
described essential commodities whenever it wants.
 The government empowers it to regulate above items supply in only under
extraordinary circumstances. These include:
1. War
2. Famine
3. Extraordinary price rise
4. Natural calamity of extreme state
Stock limit scenario: 13
 The ordinance says that implementation of any storage limit on agricultural
product must be based on the situation of price rise. A storage limit may be
imposed in the conditions when:
1. There is a 100% increase seen in the retail price of horticultural produce.
2. A 50% increment in the retail price of non-perishable agricultural food goods.
3. This increment will be calculated over the existing price immediately exceeding 12 months, or
the average retail price of the last 5 years whichever is lower.
 Why Framers are Protesting?
1. Green Revolution, APMC MSP
2. Legal Battle- Gujarat Farmers- FC5 Potato Variety- PEPSICO- Rs.10million
loses.
3. Reduction State Revenue- No APMCs.
What is the minimum support price and its related challenges:
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 The farmers wanted to protect MSPs, which according to them can be damaged
by the new farm laws. Actually MSP are the pre-defined prices at which central
government purchases the extra produce from farmers.
 These prices may differ from ,market rates, and are declared are 23 crops at the
beginning of each sowing season
 The central government only purchases paddy, wheat, and selected pulses in
large quantities, statistically only 6% of farmers in the country actually sell their
product at MSP prices
 According to Shanta Kumar committee’s report, 2015 that was publishing using
NSSO data, reveals that no law can directly cross check upon the MSP system.
 However, most of the government procurements centres in states are located
within the notified APMC mandis that itself is an issue
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 Farmers always fear that by promoting tax-free private trade of Agri-produce
outside APMC mandis will make these mandis of no use which could lead to
reduction in government procurement itself in future. Farmers are also
demanding that MSPs should be made universal within mandis and outside, so
that all buyers either government or private will have to use these rates as a floor
prices below which sales cannot be made.
 Some states have already invested a lot in APMC system, with a strong mandis
network, a well-oiled system of atthiyas or commission agents facilitating
procurements, and link roads connecting most villages to the notified market and
allowing farmers to easily bring their produce for procurement.
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 Entry 26 in List II refers to “trade and commerce within the State”
 Entry 27 refers to “production, supply and distribution of goods”

FARM LAWS
 Entry 28 refers to “market and fairs”
 For these reasons, intra-state marketing in agriculture was always
considered a legislative prerogative of states. Seen in this perspective,
Parliament’s passage of the Farm Bills was a extraordinary step.
 For this purpose, the central government invoked Entry 33 in the concurrent
List. Entry 26 and 27 in List II are listed as “subject to the provision of
Entry 33 of List III”.
 Entry 33: List III 17
 Trade and commerce in, and the production, supply and distribution of,--
 (a) The products of any industry where the control of such industry by
the Union is declared by Parliament by Law to be expedient in the public
interest, and imported goods of the same kind as such products;
 (b) Foodstuff including edible oilseeds and oils;

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 (c) cattle fodder, including oilcakes and other concentrates;
 (d) raw cotton, whether ginned or unginned and cotton seed;
 (e) raw jute
 Article 369 18
 Temporary power to Parliament to make laws with respect to certain
matters in the State List as if they were matters in the Concurrent List:
Notwithstanding anything in this constitution, Parliament shall, during a
period of 5 years from the commencement of this constitution, have
power to make laws are:

FRAM LAWS
 (a) Trade and commerce within a state, and in production, supply, and
distribution of, cotton and woollen textiles, raw cotton, foodstuff, cattle
fodder, coal, iron, steel and mica
 Constitutional?... 19
 Constitutionality of parliamentary laws can be challenged only on 2
grounds. They are
1. That the subject is in the State List or
2. That it violates fundamental right (Part III of Constitution)

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BURDEN OF PROOF
 Presumption of constitutionality
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Presentation Title
9/3/20XX
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Conclusion
• The removal of stock limit and facilitation of
bulk purchase and storage through the essential
commodities act could bring large corporate

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players into the agricultural space. Although they
will bring much-needed investment, they could
also skew the playing field, with small farmers
unlikely to match them in bargaining power.
• The majority of agricultural marketing already
happens outside the mandis network, with only
7000 APMC markets operating across the
country. Bihar, Kerala, and Manipur do not
follow the APMC system at all. However, most
private buyers are currently small traders at local
mandis.
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THANK YOU
FARM LAWS