-Down to Earth The government’s flip-flop on stockholding limits does not help pulses’ pricing issues The Union government’s decision on July 2, 2021, to impose stock limits on pulses till October 31 has once again fuelled the long-held perception that the country’s food policies are not even consistent, let alone being relevant. On June 5, 2020, the Union government issued the Essential Commodities (Amendment) (ECA) Ordinance, 2020, which was later legislated into an...

-TheCitizen.in The Farmers’ agitation starting November 26 2020, was against three Farm Laws. The Essential Commodities Amendment Act, 2020, (ECA Act) is one of them. ECA Act amends the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, (EC Act) enacted “in the interest of the general public, for the control of the production, supply and distribution of, and trade and commerce”, and more precisely, “for controlling the rise in prices or preventing the hoarding of any...

-The Indian Express In back-to-back moves aimed at controlling onion prices, the government has relaxed import norms and now reintroduced stock limits. Why have prices been rising, and how far can these moves check the rise? With less than a week to go for the Bihar elections, the Centre on Friday reintroduced the stock limit on onions — a move aimed at controlling rising prices, which crossed Rs 80 per kg in...

-TheIndiaForum.in The rules of the game in markets have changed dramatically. But there are problems with the fundamental premise of the approach, there are doubts about the future of state intervention & there are major lacunae in the bills, all making the outcome uncertain. On 5 June 2020, amidst growing concern over the seismic collapse of the economy and the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government of India promulgated three ordinances...

-Down to Earth The ordinance does not expressly define ‘extraordinary circumstances’: Such legislative ambiguity makes one question the entire exercise of introducing this particular provision As the Union government announced massive reforms as part of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) relief package, attention went to three agriculture sector ordinances related to farmers’ trade, contract farming and amendments in the Essential Commodities Act. While each of the three ordinances have far-reaching implications from legal...