Amidst vociferous protests by the Opposition BJP and JD(S) members, the Karnataka Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation and Development) (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was passed in the Legislative Assembly on Monday.
Discussion on the Bill - that was tabled to scrap the amendments introduced by the previous BJP government - triggered a war of words between the ruling and Opposition members. It was passed amidst pandemonium as Opposition members staged a protest in the well of the House.
To prevent exploitation
Presenting the Bill, Minister for Agricultural Marketing Shivananda Patil said that the trading of commodities by farmers outside the APMC yards would be prone to exploitation by the traders since there was no regulatory mechanism for controlling the exploitation. “Farmers’ produce price and income has not increased even though they were allowed to trade their produce outside APMC yards. Moreover, the APMC’s income has reduced drastically in view of the trade taking place outside the market yards,” he said.
Allaying the Opposition members’ fears that scrapping the amendment will be an injustice to farmers, the Minister said that farmers will be benefited by way of competitive and fair price for their produce sold under the Unified Market Platform in APMCs.
‘Anti-farmer’
Opposing the amendments, former Cooperation Minister S.T. Somashekar said farmers should get complete freedom to sell their produce where they want. “Tabling the Bill within a month after coming to power just to scrap the amendments made by our government is not in the interest of farmers. Why are you in such a hurry to get this passed? This is anti-farmers and will benefit middlemen and traders,” he alleged.
“According to the amendment, if a farmer sells his produce to buyers outside the APMC, he can be penalised with imprisonment for a period of six months and a fine of ₹5,000. Is this not harassment,” he asked.
Centre repealed law
To this, the Minister said the Bill was not brought in haste. “The Union government brought this law through an ordinance, but the farmers have not benefited from it. This has benefited corporate companies such as Reliance and Demart. After massive protests by farmers, the Centre repealed the law but the State did not revoke it. Hence, we are doing it now,” the Minister said.
Former Minister Araga Jnanendra and JD(S) member H.D. Revanna joined Mr. Somashekar and said the amendments will make way for exploitation of farmers.
Intervening, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H.K. Patil said as there was no online system for the trade taking place outside the market yards, the farmers would not get fair and competitive prices for their produce.
There was chaos as BJP and JD(S) members jumped into the well of the House protesting. Amidst the chaos, Speaker U.T. Khader passed the Bill and adjourned the House for a short while. After reassembling, the Minister said that suggestions made by Opposition members in the Speaker’s chamber would be incorporated after discussions.
