Brief background & less highlighted issues around Indian Farmers Protest

In the first week of June 2020, 3 new Farm sector laws were implemented by using discretionary emergency powers of Ordinances/Executive Order by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during extremely strict COVID lockdowns in India. Ordinances are valid for just 6 months, so the Farm ordinances were made into law by ramming them through Lok Sabha (lower house) and Rajya Sabha (upper house) of Indian parliament in 3rd week of September. Even when some Members of Parliament (MPs) demanded to hold a physical vote on the proposed farm laws, as per process, they were denied voting and thrown out of the parliament and laws were declared to be passed by voice vote.

What was the need to use emergency measures for farm laws?

How Laws are Made in India?

Indian Law making processes are very thorough and take at least one year to make any new law, because each stakeholder is to be consulted, industry associations, state govts, and the general public is also invited to comment on it. Even sector specific industry rules are made by different industry regulators after very wide public consultations. 

E.g.: Most techies from India or from the telecom sector would remember the huge issue of Net Neutrality and Facebook’s interference in submission of public comments in support or against its ‘Free Basics’ service from FY 2015-16. Indian telecom regulator TRAI invited public comments, as is the practice for every rule and law being made in a Democratic India, Facebook Inc. without informing its users asked them to sign up for display picture frames supporting ‘Digital India’ campaign support of Facebook, but submitted those as as comments to TRAI in support of its ‘Free Basics’ program, which violated Net neutrality rules. Indian regulator over time decided in favor of Net neutrality, but the full democratic processes to finalize and come to this decision were followed.

The point is, even for this one small rule, it took more than 6 months of consultations, to the extent of inviting comments from the general public, which many aware citizens from India do. 

This is the way laws are made; initial white papers highlighting issues/needs of a particular sector, many brainstorming sessions by concerned ministry with industry stakeholders/industry associations/unions/state govts/other ministries of govt, a lot of to-and-fro between all stakeholders on preparing each draft bill, which is than finalized by the concerned Ministry. Once the draft bill is finalized with stakeholders, it is posted on the ministry website inviting comments from the general public. Many Indian citizens participate in it, like experts, university professors, industry professionals send their comments to the Ministry in the timeline provided. The concerned Ministry compiles all those inputs and shares them along with the draft with all stakeholders again. Their views are taken in, and a final draft bill is made. 

This draft bill is then sent to the concerned Parliamentary Standing Committee, consisting of a group Member of Parliament, who discuss it among themselves and submit a report to the ministry. The Ministry takes in all inputs and then sends the Draft Bill to be put into the Agenda of next Parliament session, sharing the Draft Bill to each MP of Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha at least 20-30 days before parliament session, so that they have time to discuss and review the same with their assistants and local population if needed. When the parliament session starts, it is listed for discussion and debates inside Parliament, and after deliberations a vote is done to pass it in the lower house i.e. Lok Sabha, and then it is sent to the upper house, Rajya Sabha for the same process. If passed in both the houses it becomes a law. 

For the 3 Farm Laws: 

1. The government did not consult with any stakeholder including farmers. (RTI Response)

2. The bills were not put forward in the public domain for inviting comments from the general public. 

3. The bills were not sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture. (http://164.100.47.194/Loksabha/Committee/CommitteeInformation.aspx?comm_code=5&tab=1 )

4. Nobody knows who drafted these 3 farm bills.

5. Rajya Sabha members demanded voting on these farm laws, but the House Speaker declared them passed with a voice vote, amid uproar by opposing members asking for a physical vote to be done by each member. BJP does not have a majority in Rajya Sabha.  

Undemocratically passing of Ordinances in Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha: There is no concept of voice vote in Indian Parliamentary procedures. Voice vote is done for bills/resolutions that nobody objects too. But even if one member asks for a vote, the while house needs to vote. The 3 farm ordinances were passed without physical vote in both the houses, and made into laws in September 2020.

Federal Structure of India: 

These new farm laws usurp provincial/state powers, as Agriculture & Agriculture Marketing are both in the domain of State Governments in India, not Central Government. Even all the existing laws related to Agriculture & Agriculture Produce sale are made by various state govts, not central govt. 

Agriculture worldwide is supported by the Govts, for national security/Food security concerns: 

Support systems for the Agri Sector are very important, as it's one of the strategic sectors for every country. Subsidies are important, if you don’t do it, cheaper food products shall get imported from other countries and ruin your farm sector, leading to country’s dependent on external supplies over time. WTO member countries cannot regulate imports too much, being part of it. 

The new laws, by-pass the existing support system and safe-guards against exploitation of poor Indian Farmers and leave farmers at the mercy of corporates.

Farmers Protests in India: 

Farmers defied the harsh pandemic lockdown in India and started peaceful protests in June 2020, and protests have been going on since then. After protesting for 6 months, they planned and announced a protest in Delhi, the capital city for two days, i.e. 25th & 26th Nov 2020. But they were met with brute force (water cannons in winter, metal & concrete barricades, police dug up national highways, baton/lathi-charged farmers, police forcefully stopped trailer truckers and used their trucks and containers to block highways for 2 days, and it took them 2.5 to 3 days to reach Delhi city borders, where they were stopped from entering Delhi with brute force again. 

Almost 1 year of protesting, 6.5 months of living 250-450 Kms away from home, on roads outside Delhi, during harsh winter. Almost 500 farmers have died protesting in the last 6.5 months.

For 6 months, before coming to Delhi almost every village, every farm union wrote letters, gave memorandoms and protested in big numbers. Government didn't even issue one letter in reply, or hold any talks/discussions with the farmers. No outreach whatsoever! 

Why does it matter? 

More than 600 Million people are engaged directly into farming, with almost 200 million more indirectly dependent on it. 85% of Indian farmers are extremely poor, with landholdings of less than 5 acres. Experts are saying that in 2-3 years these new laws are going to push them out of their farms and homes as well. This extremely abrupt change to their livelihoods and lives do not give them even a basic opportunity to adjust and switch to other occupations over time.

The peaceful protests by farmers are like Satya-graha by Mahatma Gandhi. That is why even with their meagre resources they braved atrocities like bannoting, pepper spray, tear gas and water cannons, of police/paramilitary forces. After 6 months of peaceful protests in different cities and states, braving all these atrocities, they finally came to Delhi, 200-500 miles away from their homes, on Tractor-trolleys, cycles, bullock carts, and whatever vehicle they could get. Overall, almost 25 million farmers are protesting across the country, in front of local/regional govt offices, making it the largest protest ever in the history of the world.

Indian Economy not growing, no alternate jobs for people ultimately pushed out of Farming:

Indian Economy has been slowing down since the last 4 years, and now is in a recession with GDP going down by - 24% points. Farming sector was the only one in positive growth even in 2020. By pushing hundreds of millions of farmers, already on the edge, into a system with no basic support system and possibly far lower farm earnings, these laws are a death warrant for the majority of Indian farmers. 

Govt’s response: 

Constitutional right to peaceful protests is being crushed daily in today’s India, by brute force, legal tactics and massive disinformation campaigns. A huge disinformation campaign is being run by PM Modi’s govt, through Indian state controlled and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) controlled news channels, coupled with a massive social media campaign to term peacefully protesting farmers as terrorists, separatists, or backed by China/Pakistan, etc. The approach of this government to discredit the farmers' demands is full of oppression. These are not the ways of a democratic government. 

Many Indians have come out in support of the farmers. Indian Military Veterans, Doctors, Teachers/Educators, Retired Police Professionals, Lawyers and many others have criticized the government's heavy handed approach in response to protests and have lent support to farmers demands of repealing three farm laws.

SUPPORT FARMERS by:

• Following and supporting (by sharing updates) official social media handles of the central umbrella organization of farmers, @KisanEktaMorcha .

• Talking about the farmers, and dictatorial acts of Govt in your social circles and social media.

• Highlighting how badly the Govt handled the protests and tagged the protestors as ‘Anti-Nationals’ and ‘funded by enemies of the country’. 

ISSUES WITH THE NEW INDIAN FARM LAWS

PART A: Un-constitutionality & Departure from Democratic Norms and Processes

1. Central/Federal Govt has no rights to make laws on Agriculture/Farm Sector and Agriculture Produce Marketing/Sale: As per Indian constitution, laws for these are to be made by the respective states, not Central/Federal govt. Under the Federal structure of Indian Union, Centre Govt and States have the freedom to operate in their allotted spheres of power, in coordination with each other. The Seventh Schedule of the Constitution spells out these areas, and in reference to Agriculture and Food stuff, lists that the Federal Govt in India, can make rules on trade of processed food stuff (Floor, processed cereal, butter, cheese, etc) , but the farm produce (Food grains, cereal, Milk, etc) is a state subject. 

2. The process of making new laws in India, because of population (1.35 Billion) and geographic size and complexity, involves a huge consultative democratic exercise that gets views of every stakeholder factored-in and a lot of to-and-fro between all stakeholders while drafting any new bill to be presented in the parliament, and made as law. Even common public, state govts, central/federal govt ministries/entities are asked to provide comments. NO CONSULTATIONS HAPPENED FOR FARM LAWS.

3. Some Farmers and State Govts have approached the Supreme Court of India, pleading the unconstitutional nature of farm laws on pt 1 above. But, the Supreme Court (SC) in the past few years has been observed to be under huge influence of the present Indian Govt, PM Modi and BJP Party.

4. Under new Farm Laws, Farmers cannot take their disputes to Court: The right to judicial remedy is one of the fundamental rights listed in the Indian Constitution that each citizen is entitled to. Article 32 deals with the 'Right to Constitutional Remedies', or affirms the right to move the Supreme Court by appropriate proceedings for the enforcement of the rights. The 3 new farm laws take away these rights of Indian farmers, in extremely poor dispute resolution mechanisms that do not allow them to go to court. Lately, Chief Justice of India, S.A. Bobde made remarks about discouraging the recourse to Article 32, putting more doubt on the Supreme Court's credibility.

ISSUES WITH THE NEW INDIAN FARM LAWS

PART B: Issues highlighted by farmers and now accepted by Govt 

(but Govt of India has not repealed the 3 laws)

LAW 1: The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020

The first of the three laws by-passes the existing Farm Market Systems developed over the past 5 decades and sets up a parallel system of buying-selling of farm produce.. Existing system has some form of taxes, some basic protections and security for small farmers. The new law provides for zero taxation, but no security or support for the farmers. Farmers were demanding improvement in the existing system but new laws make the existing system irrelevant

Farmers are concerned that in a couple of years the old system will become defunct, since it has some form of taxation and the new parallel system under this law doesn’t, and buyers & sellers would prefer the zero taxation system without protections due to higher incomes initially and later on the buyers can exploit poor farmers. And thus, it will take away their already minimal protections, under the existing system. The law also prohibits buyers or sellers (including farmers) from going to court, or suing any party (farmers, corporations, companies/buyers), or inclusion of the government as a party in any dispute.

LAW 2: Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020

Farmers can enter into ‘written agreements’ with anyone, including a company, and sell them their produce for a set period of time, as per the contract. In other words, companies can now have contracts with farmers for buying produce. State Govts already have laws for contract farming, and many corporates and farmers are doing business under them. This law also prohibits buyers or sellers (including farmers) from going to court, or suing any party (farmers, corporations, companies/buyers), or inclusion of the government as a party in any dispute.

LAW 3: The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020

This is an amendment (change) to an old act of 1955, which was targeted at fighting price control through supply control tactics used by some market players by hoarding essential food items or drugs. Under the old act of 1955, Govt of India put some limits on storage quantity  of daily use food items and some important drugs, by companies and supermarkets, so that they cannot artificially increase prices. The latest amendment in it (2020) de-lists many of the food items from this and is giving a go-ahead for hoarding and creating artificial price inflation, which is already a problem in India.