-Scroll.in The Central government has thrown its weight behind traders, investors and corporations. Three ordinances approved at a cabinet meeting on June 3 were hailed as landmark decisions that would benefit Indian farmers and transform the agricultural sector. One of these, the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, amends the existing act to remove all agricultural commodities from the list of essential commodities. The government assumes that “the freedom to produce, hold, move, distribute...

-TheWire.in Unlike China which supported productivity-enhancing R&D investments, India’s focus has been on politically-driven subsidies that mainly benefit large farmers. We saw the trailer two years ago. TV news visuals of the plight of thousands of rural poor marching to Mumbai shocked the relatively affluent residents of India’s financial capital. The March 2018 Maharashtra farmers’ march and now the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown-triggered migrant exodus has exposed the stark duality of India –  an...

-TheWire.in More clarity is needed on what will be considered an export order in case stock limit has to be imposed. Out of the three game-changing ordinances issued by the Centre on June 5, 2020, the shortest and the most critical to the future of investment in Agriculture is “The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020”. The ordinance seeks to specify and restrict the conditions under which the government will be empowered issue regulations...

-TheWire.in ‘One India, One Agriculture Market’ slogan is an open declaration of the centralising objective of these reforms. The central government recently introduced major agricultural market reforms through three ordinances: The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance 2020, The Farming Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020, and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020. Since the inauguration of the Indian constitution on January 26, 1950,...

-The Indian Express Rather than coax the states financially to correct the markets, an unregulated marketplace has been created where 15 crore farmers will be exposed to the skulduggery of traders. Imagine the mayhem in stock markets if ROC and SEBI were similarly made redundant. Just as all ordinances aren’t reforms, all reforms aren’t the “1991 moment” for Agriculture. The ordinances announced recently to facilitate trade in agricultural produce were historically resisted...