The document summarizes the 2020 Indian Agricultural Acts, including the key provisions of the three farm acts, reactions from the government, independent analysts, farmers and opposition parties, and ongoing protests by farmers. It outlines the major concerns of farmers such as the lack of statutory support for minimum support prices and the perceived threat to their earnings from greater corporate involvement. Large scale protests by farmers have been ongoing since the bills were introduced, with demonstrations blocked by police at Delhi borders.

1. कृ षि कानून 2020 or
The 2020 Indian
Agricultural Acts
By Harshit Jain

2. Index
▪ The Farm Acts
o Farmers (Empowerment and Protection)Agreement on Price Assurance and
Farm Services Act, 2020
o Farmers (Empowerment and Protection)Agreement on Price Assurance and
Farm Services Act, 2020
o EssentialCommodities (Amendment) Act, 2020
▪ Reaction of Government on Farm Acts
▪ Reaction of Independent Analysts on Farm Acts
▪ Response From farmers and Opposition Parties
▪ Protests
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3. The Farm Acts
▪ The Farmer’s ProduceTrade and Commerce ( Promotion
and Facilitation ) Act, 2020
o expands the scope of trade areas of farmers' produce from
select areas to "any place of production, collection,
aggregation".
o allows electronic trading and e-commerce of scheduled farmers'
produce.
o prohibits state governments from levying any market fee, cess,
or levy on farmers, traders, and electronic trading platforms for
the trade of farmers' produce conducted in an 'outside trade
area’.
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4. The Farm Acts (Continued…)
▪ Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on
Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020:
o provides a legal framework for farmers to enter into pre-
arranged contracts with buyers including mention of pricing.
o defines a dispute resolution mechanism.
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5. The Farm Acts (Continued…)
▪ Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020
o removes foodstuff such as cereals, pulses, potato, onions,
edible oilseeds, and oils, from the list of essential commodities,
removing stockholding limits on agricultural items produced by
Horticulture techniques except under "extraordinary
circumstances“ requires that imposition of any stock limit on
agricultural produce only occur if there is a steep price rise.
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6. Reaction of Government on the Farm Acts
▪ On 20 September 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to
the bills as a watershed moment in the history of Indian
agriculture and stated the bills will "ensure a complete
transformation of the agriculture sector" and empower tens of
millions of farmers. In the Prime Minister's Mann ki Baat radio
address on 29 November 2020, he said that "all political parties
had been making promises to the farmers but now these promises
had been fulfilled."
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7. Reaction of Government on the Farm Acts
(Continued…)
▪ Several Union Ministers urged farmers not to have
misconceptions about the reforms.Rejecting demands for the
inclusion of Minimum Support Price (MSP) as a mandatory
provision in the Farm Bills, Minister of Agriculture & Farmers'
Welfare Narendra SinghTomar said that, while the government
was committed to MSP, it was "not a part of the law" earlier and
"is not" today.
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8. Reaction of Independent Analysts on the
Farm Acts
▪ The Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund, Gita
Gopinath, said the "farm bills and labor bills are very important
steps in the right direction". She also stressed that the
implementation of these laws must be right.
▪ On 1 January 2021, 866 academics from several educational
institutes signed an open letter, expressing their support for the
three farm laws.The signatories were from "DU, JNU, Gorakhpur
University, Rajasthan University, Gujarat University and others".
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9. Reaction of Independent Analysts on the
Farm Acts (Continued…)
▪ Kaushik Basu, former chief economist of the World Bank and professor
of Economics at Cornell University called the new farm bills are "flawed"
and "detrimental to farmers". On 3 February 2021, 413 academicians
from across the country and several abroad universities said in a
statement that the new farm bills pose a major threat to farming
communities all over India and urged the government to abandon it.
The signatories to the statement were from Jawaharlal Nehru
University, IIT Kanpur, IIT Madras, IISc Bangalore, Indian Statistical
Institute Kolkata, Delhi University, Panjab University, IIT Bombay, IIM
Calcutta, London Film School, University of Johannesburg, University of
Oslo, University of Massachusetts, University of Pittsburgh and others.
▪ On 4 February 2021, the US State Department expressed support for the
laws stating that they would improve market efficiency and private
investment, while encouraging dialogue between the government and
those who oppose the laws.
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10. Response from Farmers and Opposition
Parties on Farm Acts
▪ On 31 December 2020, the Kerala legislative assembly passed a
resolution against the farm reforms and seek their withdrawal.
▪ The acts have faced protests from farmers in various parts of India
alleging that it will hurt their earnings.The main reasons for
opposition is the uncertainty regarding the implementation of the
reforms, controversy surrounding the minimum support prices
(MSPs) and low bargaining power of the farmers are some of the
fears that have led to the opposition to the bills.
▪ Lack of statutory support in the bills for the MSP is a major point
of concern, especially for farmers from Punjab and Haryana,
where 65% of wheat (2019) is procured at MSP by the Food
Corporation of India and state agencies.
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11. Response from Farmers and Opposition
Parties on Farm Acts (Continued…)
▪ Various opposition parties alleged that the bills were passed
“unconstitutionally” in “complete disregard” of parliamentary
norms and are anti-farmer and corporate-friendly.
▪ The protesters pointed out that the deregulation of the sugar
industry in 1998, which paved the way for private establishments,
did not result in a significant improvement in farmers' productivity
or incomes. A state-led attempt in Bihar to deregulate the APMCs
in 2006 has not resulted in an increase in farmers' income or
improved infrastructure.
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12. Response from Farmers and Opposition
Parties on Farm Acts (Continued…)
▪ The Shetkari Sanghatana, a farmers union in Maharashtra
supported the bills and wants the market to decide the prices of
agricultural commodities. It claimed that the minimum support
prices have actually weakened farmers, instead of empowering
them.
▪ The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), a farmers organization, has
demanded that the government send the bills to the
Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture and
questioned the government's haste to get the bills passed.
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13. Protests
▪ Since the proposal of these laws, different protests have come
underway in different states of India.These protests are the first
large-scale farmer protests since the Narendra Modi government
came into power in 2014. On 26 November 2020, farmers from
Haryana were stopped from entering Delhi by Haryana police. At
the border near Ambala, protesters were struck with water
cannons and tear gas shells by the police forces; protestors threw
stones and tossed police barricades into the river. In response, the
police used water cannons. Media have reported that trenches
were dug by the police on certain routes into Delhi; the Haryana
BJP government dug the National Highway connecting Haryana
and Delhi. Sand-filled trucks and bulldozers were also placed on
the path of the march to Delhi. Earlier, the house of Haryana's
Chief Minister was surrounded by farmers.
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