NEW DELHI, Sept 15: The Lok Sabha today passed the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, which seeks to deregulate food items, including cereals, pulses and onion, with Opposition parties describing the measure as anti-farmer and NDA ally Shiromani Akali Dal opposing changes in the law.
The amendment is aimed at transforming the farm sector and raising farmers’ income, the Government has said.
Responding to the debate, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs Raosaheb Patil Danve said the change in the law will help improve income of farmers and strengthen agriculture infrastructure in the country.
It will also help in attracting private investment in the sector, he said, adding that it seeks to support the Government’s resolve to double farmers income by 2022.
The minister said that there were apprehensions that food prices may go up during the COVID period due to lockdown and supply disruptions, but the Government took several steps to keep prices in check.
He cited measures like free foodgrain distribution to 80 crore poor people through the PDS system and procurement of grains by giving relaxations to mandis during the lockdown.
Participating in the debate, Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, an ally of the ruling BJP, spoke about “misgivings” and “doubts” among farmers on the bill and two other proposed Legislations related to the farm sector.
Badal said when these ordinances were discussed in the Union Cabinet, the party’s representative, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, had raised objections and voiced concerns, and had requested that the measures put off.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal is Union Food Processing Minister in the Modi Government.
“The party’s legacy cannot and will not be compromised or diluted, no matter what price we have to pay,” Badal said while speaking in Punjabi in Lok Sabha. He later opposed the Bill which was passed by a voice vote.
The Centre should withhold these Legislations and work to address the concerns of farmers, he said.(PTI)
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