Farmers’ protest: What’s been happening?
Politics
200 farmers arrived at Jantar Mantar in Delhi today to protest against the three farm laws. The Delhi government has allowed the protestors to gather as long as they follow covid guidelines issued by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority.
‘Kisan Sansad’
LG in Delhi has allowed for “staggered protests at Jantar Mantar with a maximum of 200 protesting farmers/members of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM)”.
Alongside the ongoing monsoon session, the community will be seen protesting the farm bills in Delhi with its own ‘Kisan Sansad’ led by the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader, Rakesh Tikait.
Delhi police also have arrangements to tackle violence, if protests take the shape of what happened on republic day 2021.
What are these bills anyway?
In December 2020, the centre was set to pass 3 laws that will change the ecosystem of agriculture in the country:
The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 - making way for sale and purchase of produce outside APMC mandis
Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 - opening way for farmers to enter negotiated contractor with players outside agriculture
'Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 - disallowing central government to impose stock holding limits
Current stalemate
After multiple rounds of discussion, the government’s final offer was to put the bills on hold whereas the farmers are demanding a complete revocation.
The Supreme court upheld the implementation of the three laws 6 months ago, which has led to a stalemate between the farmers and the government. There has been no official communication between the two sides since then.
The opposition’s support
The opposition parties have supported farmer’s protests throughout. With support from Congress, protecting its incumbency in Punjab, and AAP, fighting for a stronger hold, even BJP’s former ally Akali Dal has sided with the opposition.
Dirt in the field
What started as a momentous peaceful protest, with an entire economic sector peacefully opposing the government, movement has faced patches of dirt over the last few months.
On Republic Day 2021, there were incidents of vandalism at Red Fort for which cases are currently ongoing. There have also been many incidents of alleged inter-party scuffles at protest sites. A gang rape case of 26-year-old woman at the Tikri border has also been reported. The opposition parties also seem to be using the anti-BJP momentum to their advantage.
Zooming agricultural exports in India
Business
India’s agricultural exports soared by a 17.5% YOY growth in 2020-21. Despite Covid-19, the balance of trade in agriculture has improved by 42.16% from USD 14.51 billion to USD 20.58 billion to achieve a six-year record high.
Colossal growth
Wheat saw growth by 774.17% to USD 549.16 million, while other agri products performed as below:
Over the years…
Agri exports have been gradually increasing over the years, now forming close to 10% of India’s GDP.
How Government's policies have helped
A good monsoon season really helped the production last year. However, credit goes to the government for their measures towards exports during the difficult 2020. Some of these are:
During the lockdown, a 24*7 emergency response cell was created in APEDA/ commodity boards to help exporters in addressing their issues.
Authorities ensured seamless issuances of various certificates required for exports.
Virtual inspections, extensions on the validity of pack houses, along with measures to ease doing business like easier compliance checks.
As compared to other countries, India has lower prices, assisted by lower demand due to schemes like Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana assisting in huge distribution across the country- providing enough surplus for export.
The government encourages exporting grains by buying little quantity on MSPs, allowing prices to remain higher and strong-arming farmers to sell their harvest for exports.
Roadmap ahead
Competitive pushing for access to a bouquet of products has enabled exports to a wider market. Since the agri-market depends on high volumes to boost its profits, the authorities have been using the high demand since 2020 to make the most out of the opportunities.
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