My DETAILED study on the Farm Laws....improvements that need to be done by Govt in the laws...

PAN Card, the ONLY method enforceable for Farm sale - is THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE in the way of the current
CONmen protestors ( middlemen who avoid thousands of crores of Income Tax, as these MIDDLEMEN declare
their SALE of farm produce as THEIR "own" farm income ).........
Can the Supreme Court take back the laws ? Find out....
Format is in bullet-point method and so the sentence formation could sound abrupt. But a lot of rich info....
Please correct me wherever I have misinterpreted things.....

I come from a farming background ( father and mother both were school teachers but also doing farming.
They kept me far away from the tensions that farmers had in their lives ). But living under this shadow of
horror for the earlier part of my childhood - these new farm laws brought in by Modi were studied/followed
by me with great interest. I wanted to write about them, the way I understood them after closely studying the
entire matter….
1991 Revolution by PVNarsimhaRao i.e. liberalization reforms…everyone accepted these great steps with
open arms/hearts ( 1 year earlier in 1990, there were RIOTS all over the country with the OBC Reservation
law, a real BLACK law, brought in India after 43 ( FORTY THREE ONLY ) years of free independent
governance…I was ashamed of it when in college ) ……
Farming Reforms were on the agenda of VARIOUS governments of the past few decades. Everyone wanted
farmers to give the same rights as any other business/capitalist environment of selling his produce to
anybody he wants at any price he wants, on his terms and conditions. But it remained only in the Election
Manifesto and nobody did anything about it …. farmers from some states were committing suicide, while
some from other states were earning in billions with latest tractors/machinery and Mercedes cars, etc. Modi
decided to change it all and make it ONE LAW all across India. After implementing pathbreaking and
revolutionary reforms like Jan Dhan, Ayushman Bharat, GST, etc in the first term, it was but natural to think
about the farmers next. He knew that there would be opposition to the reforms and he struck during the times
of the pandemic when things were relatively cool. But how can farmers be innovative and revolutionize the
WAY they were doing farming, if they had farmers in the GREEN REVOLUTION BELT produce ONLY 23
products ( MSP assured products ) ? How can farmers remove the cobwebs of generations, do more research
and have new crop patterns, bring in productivity, and improve their productivity ? Things could not continue
forever as they were. Uniform reforms were necessary PAN INDIA. Farmers HAD to pull up their pyjamaa’s
and think out of the box, think MODERN to double their OWN income. Small farmers who cannot pull up their
socks, they HAVE to find some other means of living. There are no two ways about it ( I still believe that the
current generation and kids of the existing farmers, extremely competitive in nature, who live in the modern
mobile-app world, can do wonders after implementation of these farm laws, finding the right price/market for
their produce )
Why do we find opposition to these revolutionary farm laws ? Let us understand the basics of APMC, MSP,
proposed laws and its effects on farmers across India, etc ( I have also pointed out what the Government
should do EXTRA , what modifications are needed in the law…for that one will HAVE to read everything
below, as the solutions suggested are hidden somewhere in this article itself… I know that Government have
ALREADY discussed these very things, and much more, in the TWELVE meetings they had with Farmers’
Unions. Hopefully things will improve soon ) :

Law No 1 – TFPTC(PF)A-2020 – mostly related to APMC’s.

APMC basics :
• 1950’s - Farmers were living in extreme poor conditions ( zameendaari, etc ) and taking loans from big
Saahukaar’s at upto 5% per month, giving their thumbprints on plain paper !!
• These Sahukaar’s then used to buy the farmer’s produce at a pittance and never paid anything to the farmers
because of the existing loans/interest !! Government then made APMC where farmers were to sell their first
produce ONLY in the APMC’s. Thus, nobody could buy from farmers
• APMC's now have big auction halls and farmers can “bid” their rates. There are many retail shops too where
normal people can come and shop.
• There are licensed commission agents ( Arathiyaa’s ) in APMC’s, who are mostly from farmer families (
usually big farmers ). The Arathiya-system is so big that it usually decides the political future of many states.
Farmers HAVE to go through these Arathiyaa’s and cannot sell it directly to APMCs. He would get 2.5%
commission from farmers ( And possible another 2.5% from the wholeseller ) ! APMC also has Market Fees
(e.g Punjab has 3% )...then also it has Rural Development Cess (e.g Punjab has 3%) . All these
commissions/fees/cesstransportation/weighing/handling-charges/etc are DEDUCTED from the Farmer’s
price i.e. from the MSP he has been promised !!
Arathiyatries do help farmers too in case of problems in transport, weighing, quality-check, payments, etc ( or
maybe create problems for the INNOCENT farmers, small farmers, along with his partners in the CARTEL and
solves them too, just to gain credibility ). The Bids done in the open are supposed to be video-recorded as per
law.
• APMC has monopoly over farmers. Hence the system HAS to fail for the poor farmers. CARTELS in APMC
exploit farmers by creating oligopoly ( say all 10 agents decide on a certain price and farmer tries to get a
higher rate, but all Arathiyaa’s bid the same rate ). Farmers HAVE to sell the rate decided by the CARTEL and if
it fits his production cost, or throw his produce and come back with his ego intact.
• APMCs cascading price increase and corruption, are the MAIN reasons for high inflation in food produce.
• APMC “Reforms” were started by Vajpayee but being a State subject, he could not do much other than
sending the draft of a Model APMC act to all states. He proposed to start fruits/vegetables to be freed from
APMCs.
• Karnataka started Raaytu Bazaar’s bringing into competition.
Bihar does not have APMC since 2006 ( yet some farmers were in the recent Protests in Dec-Jan !! ). In the
past, payments in the APMC system were delayed by 3 to 4 months in Bihar.
• Maharashtra also by and large had stopped the system of APMC by CONgress (Vilasrao Deshmukh).
Maharashtra has around 18 regulated LICENSED Private Markets. Also Maharashtra has around 1100 Direct
Market Licenses ( like Reliance Fresh, etc applied for DML licenses and they work with a group of Farmers
through agents mostly ). In 2019-20 APMCs in Maharashtra had business of 48k Crores and PM/DML did a
business of 11k Crores !!!
• Modification in the Law required to be done by STATE governments – to remove the Taxes in APMC’s and
make it competitive to Private players.
Views on the provisions of the law :
• New law states that farmers can sell at APMC and ALSO anywhere he wants ( warehouse, cold storage, food
processing plants, at his farm’s gate, etc ).
• APMC is a state-regulated matter. But this new law allows sale of inter-state and intra-state, whereby
farmers are allowed to transport their goods anywhere and sell anywhere else in India/World. Farmers can
now research about which Crop or crop pattern is in demand in which area/state and he can sell over there !!!
Railways have started for the first time in India – Kisaan Rail – which acts like moving cold storages and
carried Fruits and Vegetables across states !
• Farmers will no more have to pay taxes to the State for the produce, nor any kind of tax/fee/cess on any sale
activity done with any buyer of the produce.
• This government has done like no other for promoting Online Sale of farm produce. Through these laws,
there would be more/better focus.

Law no. 2 is mostly related to Contract Farming & MSP : TF(EP)AOPAFS

Minimum Support Price basics :
• 1964-65 : very big famine. Food shortage was rampant. We were dependent on USA for foodgrains import.
USA started making tantrums. So, India decided to revolutionize food production. Thus we brought in Green
Revolution in Punjab, Haryana, Eastern UP ( Norman Borlug & M S Swaminathan ). Brought in High Yield
variety of wheat, used proper fertilizers and pesticides. The Laxmikant Jha Committee then decided on MSP in
1966 – only on Wheat. Lateron various governments/politicians added new produce like Rice, bajra, etc and
the number today, has reached to 23 products.
• 1980’s we became Self Dependent in food Production ( food distribution was corrupt but production was
enough ).
• Today we are a NET food exporting economy. Time has come and we need to look into and revise the MSP
system. Why only in these 23 products this guarantee ? Why not in other produces like fruits, flowers, etc etc.
Why not in other businesses ? Why not in jobs in private companies ? Why government cares ONLY about
farmers ? MSP HAS to be revised based on the current Schemes like Mid Day Meal, Matrutuva scheme, Public
Distribution System ( EXCELLENT National Food Security Act which was implemented by Manmohan Singh ),
etc. Also looking into corruption, wastage, inflation problems, excess usage of water on Wheat-Rice thereby
depleting the water tables in the Green-belt, etc, the MSP mechanism has to be stopped slowly in the next
decade or so when Govt also purchases at the prices decided by the farmers in an open market ( Law could be
modified to include this GRADUAL removal of MSP over a long period ).
• Center decides MSP via Commission on Agricultural Cost & Prices ( CACP ) / `Cabinet Committee on
Economic Affairs ( CCEA )
o Cost of farmers ( grains, fertilizers, pesticides, electricity, water, etc )
o Above Cost + Labour Charges
o Ideal : Cost + Labour + Opportunity costs (of Farmer’s Investment Interest charges and Land Rental charges
)
o Swaminathan asks the above grand total to be multiplied by 1.5 times !!
o Currently Modi Govt gives (Cost+Labour ) x 1.5 times as a MSP – highest ever.
• MSP operates via APMC and FCI ( Through FCI the Govt. purchases Rice and Wheat only )
• Foodgrains, Cereals, Pulses, Oil Seeds – total 22 produces are covered under MSP + Sugarcane via Fair &
Remunerative Price FRP – total 23 produce.
• MSP is used only by 6% of farmers in India.
• APMC , at times, has seen that farmers are not paid the promised prices.
• FCI is a completely corrupt system. Not enough/proper storage facilities. Farmers are troubled every day
and are not given space for unloading/selling. Farmers cost of transport and handling increases. So he decides
at his farm only with middlemen/agents, who buy at a very low price from them and then sells in turn back to
his friends in FCI – complete cartel.
• FCI also has a corruption module where Agents bring bad produce and exchange good ones from FCI via
corrupt people.
• Corrupt people in FCI also damage foodgrains purposely and sell the same to Alcohol making distilleries.
• Why protests regarding MSP from Punjab/Haryana ? The 2 MSP products that Govt purchases –
Punjab/Haryana farmers sell 88% of rice under MSP to the Government! They sell 70% of the total wheat
under MSP to the Govt !!! Punjab/Haryana produces 35%, 62% & 50% of The ENTIRE India’s production of
Rice, Wheat and Other foodgrains respectively. These figures are mindblowing compared to the rest of India (
AP, TN, Orissa, UP sell 44% of their total rice produced via MSP & UP/MP sell their 23% of total Wheat
production via MSP )
• 50% farmers do not know what is MSP.
• 84% farmers have very less land in India and they do not go to these APMC markets or FCI’s – they go
through agents who pay the, very less in their farms. So these current laws, these agents will STILL buy from
the uninformed farmers and nothing will change in India immediately !!!
Views on the Contract conditions in the current Law :
• Farmer + Sponsor can make a contract for Price Agreement for Produce and Services. APMC doors are also
open to farmers.
• Contract Period can be 1 crop season/cycle upto 5 years.
• Contract’s Format - Farmer “may” adopt a Model contract draft given by the center, and center may issue
additional guidelines from time to time ( Modification in the law required : Government needs to assure poor
farmers of transparency and have to compulsorily prescribe only ONE format and in case of any legal disputes
the prescribed format shall prevail )
• Price can be 1) fixed 2) minimum assured price is fixed and it could go above this base price, depending on
the market rate / retail rate / APMC rate / etc at the time of the actual sale.
• Delivery of produce/services – quality could be checked during the various phases of the contract. All
payments to be done on the day of delivery/next day. If there is any procedural problem ( bank holiday, etc )
then it has to be done in max 3 days. Sponsor has to give in writing that he has received the delivery / or this
much amount is due.
• Cannot make any agreement for the actual Land’s purchase or mortgage. Also sponsor cannot build a
permanent structure in the farm unilaterally, unless sponsor agrees to remove it at the end of the contract and
if not removed, the structure shall be owned by the farmer, after the end of the contract period
• Registration of contract with government – States are given the powers to make a body/authority and
decide the structure/process of registration.
• Force Majeure - Parties are protected against any circumstances not in his control, acts of God, war, etc (
current Covid19 delays/problems is a good example ).
• All Disputes shall be referred to the clause on the contract of having a conciliation/arbitration board. If
agreement is made after arbitration, then a Memorandum of Settlement shall be made, which has to be
followed. If no resolve, then matter will go to a Special District Magistrate, who should resolve in 30 days. If
SDM does not resolve, then parties can go to addn-collector or collector. To be resolved in 30 days. (
Modification in the law required : Farmers are demanding for having an option to go to Court. Government
should agree to that and arrange tribunals, etc and then in the last attempt to be able to go to High
courts/district courts )
• Penalties - Sponsor’s mistake , then sponsor have to give upto 1.5 times penalty. Farmers will not be
penalized or jailed. Max liability to the farmers will be the advance he took from the sponsor or spent - to be
given back to the Sponsor.
• Aggregators - Middleman or an association (like FPO). Farmers ( especially small ones who trust a certain
person, or a leader of a group of people ) can join this group to make a single agreement with the sponsor.
Recently announced budget – Govt has sanctioned HUGE amounts to form FPOs
• Farm Service Providers - Middlemen or agents can be appointed in the contract, to monitor farm produce, or
supply materials/services.
( Modification in the law required : Regulatory body has to be formed by the government . Current law
demands just a Pan Card from a sponsor ( Fake PAN cards are there already and Govt needs to control this
aspect with INSTANT catching-system of the culprits - because it is it is that out of the total of 200-crore-lakh-
rupees - YES you read it correctly - of the total amount of FARM INCOME PER YEAR - significant amount is
earned by the MIDDLE MEN - i.e. they buy from small farmers and sell to APMC's or other Farm-Unions-
Societies...with PAN system they will have to pay a tax as middlemen - on these crores-of-lakhs-of-rupees !! ).
Govt to take a deposit from the sponsor, if possible, so that he does not run away and then also have a
mechanism in place to monitor the “value” of the contracts the sponsor is making with the farmers. )

Law No 3 ( ECAA-1955 )
• Nehru made the ECA-1955 ( again by using the Concurrent List Entry no 33 ). Those days we were an
agricultural-produce-deficit-nation. If traders and businessmen hoarded grains in the warehouse to artificially
increase the rates, then it would have been a disaster.
• ECA includes fruits, vegetables, flowers, etc. too !!
• Now with these 2 Modi-farm-laws in force, there would be huge food processing companies, exporters,
buyers, who could purchase whatever the farmers sell to them at the farmer’s demands in pricing.
Views on its Provisions of EC(A)A-1955:
• Now that we are an agricultural-produce-surplus-nation, regulations of the original 1955 act shall not be
applicable with this 3rd law in place and that they would be applicable only in case of extraordinary
circumstances ( war/famine/NaturalCalamity/etc. Retail-Price rise of fruits/vegetables upto 100% in a year
and food-grains upto 50% in a year, would also be considered as extraordinary circumstances )
• This new law also gives safety to the Food Processing Industries that they can store agricultural produce
upto their limit of the factory’s “installed capacity”. Food Processing Industries will now be encouraged to
invest more in India.
• This new law also gives safety to the Exporter Business Houses where they can store the produce, only if
they have a proof of confirmed orders. This will increase our competitiveness to sell a lot more in the world
market.
• ( Government should bring in some mechanism - to review if there are any artificial-demands and rate-
manipulation created by the market forces )

SUMMARY :
Indian poor farmers today get around 10 to 20 % of the retail market price for their produce. In developed
nations like South Korea, farmers get around 80 to 90% average, of the retail market price IN THEIR
POCKETS. How can India change this scenario after 75 years of Independence ? Only when Farmers are
earning well, the STATES can think to tax them. Right now, there is so much disparity amongst rich and poor
farmers. Let all come at one level of business operations, efficiency and productivity per acre. People need to
look at the solutions/suggestions given above and support the Government to find a middle way for the
farmers. These 3 laws SURELY cannot be withdrawn and with some ADDITIONAL middle-way-solutions, are
the ONLY ways forward!
Legality of these Farm Laws - Can Supreme Court withdraw them ? Answer : No. Reasoning :
1. Were these acts passed with the correct procedures of law, in the parliaments ?
a) Ordinance was made on 5th June 2020 under which these Farm Laws were applied. These bills HAD to be
passed within 6 months AFTER that. Bills were passed on 20th Sept 2020. Very well within the 6 months time.
So it was a completely Legal PROCEDURE.
b) Passing in Loksabha was a cakewalk. Rajyasabha needed 122 votes for NDA to be passed if ALL 242 seats
were present on that day for voting. Many did not come because of Covid and also many abstained ( Shivsena
wanted to hide their shame of passing in LS and not being able to pass in RS….Sharad Pawar did not have ANY
face left because he himself had passed some of these current laws provisions for Maharashtra many years
back - so both remained absent , etc etc )……attendance of NDA that day is available on the internet and that
RS voting was also safe. The speaker did a “Voice Vote” and bill was passed ( Voice Vote if challenged by
CONmen - Modi had Plan B of using Article 122 which prohibits ANY subject dealt INSIDE the parliament
house, to be discussed in the High/Supreme court. …Also he had Plan C to use the provision of JOINT-
Parliament-houses sitting and counting of votes and there SURELY NDA were in majority )
2. Are these farms contradicting the Constitution ?
a) Are these Farm laws contradicting the “Fundamental Rights” mentioned in the constitution ? Answer : No.
There is no direct attack on any farmer’s FR.
b) Is the basic structure of the constitution - i.e. federalism between Centre-States been attached by these
Farm laws? Answer : No. Article 254 gives the Centre an authority over laws made by the state ( over the
Concurrent List of Article 246 ). Nehru made the change in 1954 and gave SUPREME power to the Centre and
Centre could overrule all State laws. Modi used this clause ( SUBJECT to the provisions in the Concurrent List
Entry no 33 ) and made these current Farm Laws.