Chhattisgarh brings agriculture bill to counter Centre’s farm laws

Bhopal, Oct 28: Amid opposition to Centre’s new farm laws, Bhupesh Baghel government has brought a agriculture amendment bill providing to regulate market prices of farm produce to protect farmers from exploitation.

The bill christened as Krishi Upaj Mandi (amendment) Bill, 2020 was passed in the Chhattisgarh assembly on Tuesday after a 2-day-marathon debate on it in the house.

The bill aims to protect the farmers from fluctuating market prices and payment risks, Chhattisgarh agriculture minister Ravindra Choubey said while tabling the bill in the assembly.

The bill did not violate any Central law, thereby avoiding confrontation with the Union government, he added.

He said 80 percent of farmers in Chhattisgarh are small and marginal farmers who lacked capacity to store grains or bargain for fair prices.

“Hence, it was necessary to establish deemed mandis and electronic trading platforms for them”, he added.

The bill allows the government to establish deemed mandis (agriculture markets) or declare private markets as deemed mandis for regulation of marketing notified agriculture produce, he added.

Chhattisgarh Swabhiman Manch president Raj Kumar Gupta however criticized the state government for not ensuring guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) of farm produce in the bill as was done by Punjab government in its recently legislated agriculture bill.