What were the 3 farm laws that will be repealed?
New Delhi, Nov 19: The Centre on Friday took back its three controversial farm laws. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the nation announced this. Farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh had been protesting at the Delhi borders against these laws for more than a year. The Indian agriculture acts of 2020, often referred to as the Farm Bills are three acts initiated by the Parliament of India in September 2020. The Lok Sabha approved the bills on 17 September 2020 and the Rajya Sabha on 20 September 2020.] The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent on 27 September 2020. They inspired the protests against the new acts, which gained momentum in September 2020. On 12 January 2021 the Supreme Court stayed the implementation of the farm laws and appointed a committee to look into farmer grievances related to the farm laws.
Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020
1. expands the scope of trade areas of farmers’ produce from select areas to “any place of production, collection, aggregation”.
2. allows electronic trading and e-commerce of scheduled farmers’ produce.
3. prohibits state governments from levying any market fee, cess, or levy on farmers, traders, and electronic trading platforms for the trade of farmers’ produce conducted in an ‘outside trade area’.
Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020
1. provides a legal framework for farmers to enter into pre-arranged contracts with buyers including mention of pricing.
2. defines a dispute resolution mechanism.
Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020
1. removes foodstuff such as cereals, pulses, potato, onions, edible oilseeds, and oils, from the list of essential commodities, removing stockholding limits on agricultural items produced by Horticulture techniques except under “extraordinary circumstances”
2. requires that imposition of any stock limit on agricultural produce only occur if there is a steep price rise.