-The Hindu There is good reason why opposition to the agriculture Bills may be a reflection of the genuine concerns of farmers In a virtual rally, the Prime Minister blamed the Opposition parties for misleading farmers about the three Bills on agriculture, in Parliament. While the Opposition may have taken up the cudgels recently, the fact is that farmers have been protesting against the Bills ever since it was promulgated as ordinances...

-Livemint.com * The upcoming kharif harvest season will put the new regime to test and farm unrest may spread beyond Punjab and Haryana if crop prices take a hit NEW DELHI: The new legislations that look to rejig India’s vast and fragmented agriculture markets together with amendments to the Essential Commodities Act are significant structural changes brought in by the Narendra Modi government. So far protests by farmers have largely concentrated in...

-The Indian Express These protests, preceded by sit-ins across Punjab, are expected to gather steam after September 14, when Parliament convenes for the Monsoon Session. Jalandhar, New Delhi and Pune: On Thursday, farmer organisations in Haryana defied prohibitory orders imposed amid the pandemic to hold a rally at the Pipli wholesale grain market near Kurukshetra. They even blocked the Delhi-Chandigarh national highway for a couple of hours, when the police initially did...

-Livemint.com Trade moving outside regulated markets could lead to speculation and volatile prices, warn experts NEW DELHI: After the Centre enacted a new set of laws freeing internal trade in farm produce, crop arrivals in regulated wholesale markets have witnessed a sharp decline. However, off-market transactions between farmers and traders which are going unrecorded could be fueling food inflation as traders engage in speculation and hoarding, experts said. An analysis of numbers from...

-Financial Express Signs of a weakening of the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) networks are now evident across major farm production centres in the country, heralding an era of unfettered market access and bolstered bargaining strength for farmers. On June 5, the Centre promulgated three Ordinances reforming the country’s agriculture marketing, and their impact on the trade has been rather sudden and material: During the June 6-August 31 period, mandi arrivals of...