Punjab Assembly rejects Centre’s draft agri marketing policy: ‘attempt to bring back repealed black laws’

Punjab Vidhan Sabha is the first legislative Assembly to bring a resolution to reject the draft of NPFAM. The resolution was tabled weeks after the state government had written to the Centre, rejecting the draft.

The Centre had last year shared the draft with the state government for its views on it. According to the draft policy, it aims to “build a vibrant marketing ecosystem in the country wherein farmers of all categories find a market of their choice to realise the best price for their produce”.

As per the resolution, moved by Khuddian, “The House feels that this draft policy is an attempt to bring back the contentious provisions of the three farm laws repealed in 2021 by the Government of India after a long protest by the farmers. The House further feels that since this issue is a state subject as per the Constitution of the country, the Government of India should not come up with any such policy and should leave it to the wisdom of the states to frame suitable policies on the subject as per its concerns and requirements”.

It recommended to the Government of Punjab to take a firm stand on this issue so that the thriving Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) mandis in the state can be protected and strengthened. The resolution further recommended that the issue be taken up with the Government of India so that no further transgressions happen in the legislative domain of the states.

The broad spirit of the policy is to “promote” private markets and to significantly dilute the APMC mandis to eventually make them irrelevant, it said. “As of now, farmers are able to sell their produce in the APMC markets in a totally transparent manner and under a well-established regulatory regime which ensures that the interests of the farmers are safeguarded. With the coming in of private markets, APMC markets will be destroyed. Thereafter, the farmers will be at the mercy of the owners of the private markets,” it said.

Participating in a debate on the resolution, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said the Punjab government has already rejected the draft policy.

“We will not allow the rights of the states to be robbed,” he said adding that the state government had informed the Centre in writing that there is nothing new in the policy. “We lost 800 farmers during the agitation. They have not given any MSP guarantee. Dialogue has resumed but MSP is not being talked about. They are only talking about how many crores have been given to the farmers. Several sessions of Parliament have been convened but no Bill has been presented. They have not even prepared a draft,” said Mann.

Khuddian, after tabling the resolution, said that he had held discussions with different stakeholders, rice shellers, and farmers associations. “All are in agreement that we should reject it,” said Khuddian.

Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa slammed the Centre for bringing the draft policy and accused the BJP of being “anti-Punjab”. It wanted to “weaken us” politically and economically, he claimed. Calling BJP “a party of multinationals and traders,” he reminded the House that Shanta Kumar Commission had recommended winding up of FCI so that private players can enter into procurement business directly. He further alleged, adding that Centre has withheld Punjab’s Rural Development Fund (RDF). “Our 70 per cent rural infrastructure comes from RDF. It is a conspiracy against Punjab,” said Bajwa.

He also told the treasury benches that the government had hired weak lawyers to plead the case regarding RDF in the Supreme Court. “You should fight it strongly. I want to appeal to you that we should come together. Except for the BJP, take other parties as well. Why don’t we hold a ‘dharna’ outside the residence of the prime minister? You lead it. Ask the CM to lead, we are ready to support the cause of Punjab. Why don’t we fight together? We should tell the country that we must stand up against BJP’s ‘goondagardi’ (hooliganism),” he said.

Mann welcomed Bajwa’s suggestion.

Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali too supported the resolution and said that all Punjabis are associated with farming in some way. “We have abused our underground water to grow grains for the country. Our soil has turned poisonous. The BJP government at Centre is anti-farmer. When farm laws were brought in, we (SAD) had an alliance with BJP. I had stated at the time of ordinances that we should part ways with BJP. Finally, the farm laws were withdrawn but farmers demands were not met with. Now, they want to give control of mandis to private parties. This is not acceptable,” he said.

Suspended Congress MLA Sandeep Jakhar too supported the resolution and but added that “we should also work on finding a solution to the crisis being faced by the farmers”.

Others who spoke on the resolution included Cabinet Minister Dr Balbir Singh, AAP MLAs Gurpreet Singh Bnawali , Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra, Amritpal Sukhanand, Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra, Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra, Mandeep Singh Gyaspura and Rajnish Dahiya. An Independent, Rana Inder Partap Singh also spoke on the resolution.