PM Modi calls passage of farm bills ‘watershed moment’ for agricultural sector

The Rajya Sabha on Sunday passed two contentious farm Bills, which have triggered protests by farmers at several places, amid uproar by Opposition members.

The Rajya Sabha on Sunday passed two contentious farm Bills, which have triggered protests by farmers at several places, amid uproar by Opposition members.

The two Bills -- Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 -- were passed by Lok Sabha on Thursday.

The House also rejected the demand of several opposition parties to send the two Bills to a Rajya Sabha Select Committee for greater scrutiny.

These Bills will now be sent to the President of India for assent.

The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 seeks to provide freedom to farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.

The second Bill, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, provides for a national framework on farming agreements that protects and empowers farmers to engage with agri-business firms, processors, wholesalers, exporters or large retailers for farm services.

The bills were passed in the shadow of the resignation of Union Minister and SAD member Harsimrat Kaur Badal and the farmers agitation in Haryana and Punjab against them.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the two Bills and said it was a watershed moment in the history of Indian agriculture.

In a series of tweets, he welcomed the reforms in the two Bills passed by the Rajya Sabha today.

Courtesy : Daily Tribune:  20thSeptember, 2020