By Alok Mohit
Patna: The hurriedly enacted farm laws aim to introduce corporate farming in India, says Jesuit social scientist Father Prakash Louis.
The enactment of the three farms laws at a time when the country was grappling with problems related to Covid-19 was “anti-people and anti-farmers,” Father Louis asserted while addressing a webtalk on “Farm Bills and Farmers’ Movement: A Critical Appraisal.”
There were no pre-legislative consultations with farmers on the contentious agriculture laws, he added.
The January 14 webtalk was organized by the All India Catholic University Federation (AICUF) unit of St Xavier’s College of Management and Technology in Patna, capital of Bihar state.
College principal Jesuit Father T Nishaant commented the AICUF for organizing the webtalk on a topic on which “we need to take a stand.” He stressed the need for society to become aware of the impacts of the farm laws academically and take a stand on the matter.
Father Louis said the webtalk was timely as it was held on Makar Sankranti, a festival linked with farmers and harvesting in India.
The aim of the new laws was part of a wider plan to introduce corporate farming in the country, Father Louis said. Under the new laws, the rates of the agriculture produce would be fixed by the corporate hosues and the growers would have no say in the matter, he added.
“The acts also do not guarantee that the farmers would get justice in case of a dispute,” he explained.
AICUF guide Jesuit Father Sebastian Alphonse conducted a question-answer session on the farm laws.
The webtalk took place on the 50th day farmers protests in the national capital.
Hundreds of thousands farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, have camped outside Delhi to demand the repeal of the Indian agriculture acts of 2020 that comprise law the Parliament passed in September 2020. The Lok Sabha approved the bills on September 17, 2020, and the Rajya Sabha three days later. Indian President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent on September 27, 2020.
The government claims the laws would provide farmers with multiple marketing channels and provide a legal framework for farmers to enter into prearranged contracts among other things.
Protests against the acts picked up in September 2020, particularly in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana, where farmers have been at the forefront.
Protesting farmers and their supporters have called the laws “corporate-friendly and anti-farmer.” Several political parties too have joined the protests alleging the laws will hurt the farmers’ earnings.
The new farm laws disable the right to legal recourse of all citizens, not just farmers – to an extent unseen since the 1975-1977 Emergency. The farmers at Delhi’s gates are fighting for the rights of us all, says Palagummi Sainath, a journalist-turned agriculture expert and the winner of the 2007 Magsaysay award for journalism.