Indian Farmer Agitation 2020 - An opinion
Agitation by Some Indian Farmers, 2020 The crux of the agitation is against Modi’s government’s three new agricultural reforms. The first gives the farmers right to sell anywhere, including in the APMC mandi (more about that later) . The second removed all stock holding limits; it means a farmer can store as much and as long as he wants, of any produce. And third, it allowed contract farming, giving the farmer the right to sell his produce even in anticipation of the harvest. To ensure that the contracts are enforceable, a process was laid out. Right to Sell Anywhere Act When India got independence, it found that the small farmers were being exploited by usurious money lenders and landowners. So the Govt introduced a control mechanism. It introduced the Agricultural Marketing Produce Committee (APMC system), whereby every farmer would sell in a specified mandi (market yard) in their area, and an auction process would be followed to get the farmer a fair price. An ideal proc...