Author: smriteejena

Farm Laws 2020: Consequences and Implications

What are these laws?

The farm bills 2020 were combination of three farm bills that were brought by the central government as Ordinances in the early half 2020 with an aim of improving the dilapidated condition of the agriculture industry.

These were later passed by the Parliament of the country (which remains another contentious issue) and became a law by the assent of the President towards the end of the 2020 and are being protested against at large.

The three bills and the provisions are as follows:

  1. Essential Commodities Amendment Bill 2020

Provisions

This Bill states that there will be no regulations imposed on the stock limits until there is either 100% increase in the price of horticulture produce or 50% increase in the retail price of nonperishable agricultural items.

Aims

It is aimed at maximizing the number of cold store facilities and silos by involving the private players to store essential food commodities in the facilities available with them since the government alone cannot take care of the huge produce across the country in the limited spaces available.

Disadvantages and their feared consequences and implications

The biggest issue that is associated with the Bill is that there is a possibility hoarding by the large buyers thereby leading to an artificial scarcity and thus resulting in inflation (which any nation can ill afford).

  • The Farmers’ Produce, Trade and Commerce Bill 2020

Provisions

This is the most elaborate Bill amongst the three Bills that were tabled, it has provisions regarding the setting up of an electronic market, the contact farming that can be done only between a farmer and a sponsor, the methods of redressal, the setting up of a parallel market to the APMC markets independent of state interference and taxation, interstate trade and removal of all barriers and setting up of an “Price Information and Market Intelligence System”.

Aims

The aim of bringing this to the floor of the House was to increase competitiveness, removal of the middle men, shortening of the supply chains and proving the farmers with an alternative market structure which is tax free to help them sell and get better prices.

Disadvantages and their feared consequences and implications

The farmers and the workers of the APMC system fear that since a parallel market will be created with better benefits; their market may crash in a few years leaving the stakeholders at the mercy of the big corporate houses who will later exploit them by being the price makers, the natural death of APMC markets will not be responsibility of any government thereby rendering the people involved jobless, the state revenue will be majorly hit since the new market structure will not give them revenue as the provision of the tax has been ruled out( already the GST system has hit the state revenues), the small farmers will be still forced to sell at the Mandis because they do not have the capacity and finance to do interstate trade hence only the big farmers stand to benefit from this system.

  • Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services 2020

Provisions

This Bill elaborately explains the provision of the contact farming, between whom can it be done, the terms of trade to be mentioned, the methods of redressal, etc.

Disadvantages and their feared consequences and implications

The most controversial provision is regarding the redressal where no civil court will have a say in the settling of the disputes between the parties involved in the contact farming. The settlement has a three-tier set up where first the Conciliation Board, then the Sub Divisional Authority and then the Collector will settle the disputes if none of the three work out only a Joint Secretary of the Government of India will be then able to have a final verdict. The farmers fear that the bureaucratic structure may not listen to them as they have less bargaining power, etc. The small traders will also risk themselves when entering into the contract as they will have to comply with all the rules and will be slapped with heavier penalties if they are at fault.

Advantages of the laws

The advantages are where the farmers cannot sign the contracts between themselves saving the small peasants working on the lands of big landlords from being exploited, in any circumstance the farmers’ land cannot be leased out to the sponsor if the farmer fails to fulfil the terms of the contract and is unable to pay the punishment fee.

Conclusion

In conclusion if we look at the larger picture then the major stakeholders like small and marginal farmers, the states, the small traders all stand to lose out in this process making this law non inclusive. The ills of the existing system of agriculture can be done away simply by making no changes in the familiar existing structure of the Mandis and setting up of a parallel market instead. The foremost step that the government should have taken was to change the structure such as facilitate irrigation, stop the overuse of groundwater for crops like paddy in water scarce areas of Punjab and Haryana, stop the burning of stalks by introducing scientific methods of clearing them to make the soil productive and fertile in natural ways, set up agricultural banks to facilitate the credit and set up agri schools for farmers to learn to increase the productivity and the capacity of production, implement the existing laws properly in the states(Bihar and Madhya Pradesh being some of the many) where the APMCs do not function and the contract farming takes place in order to set a good precedent which can eradicate the fears regarding the laws and the consequences and implications of them.

The crisis in Madagascar: Humanitarian, food and climate change

The crisis that has now been unfolded in terms of rising food crisis has been a result of years of negligence and the apathy that the area has received.

The southern Madagascar has seen severe droughts from the past three years but recently it has changes into famine amidst the pandemic situation.

According to Africanews the civilian population of the area have been feeding themselves with cactus fruit , a staple fruit of the region, wild potato and now due to three years of no rain stopped bearing fruit and in this situation of crisis the people have started to fill their bellies with white clay and tamarind.

The locals say that they have restored to this measure because the acidity of the tamarind is balanced by the white clay and that it helps fill their bellies.

The report by the World Food  Programme suggests that not only the southern states have had to face this crisis but soon the other states will be facing the crisis. The  WFP has been tackling the situation but the situation is far from good and they say that it will be now impossible to sustain life their with the limited amount of resources.

Humanitarian issue

Madagascar has been facing this issue for quite some time now but the region has been met with apathy by the world at large. The major help has been coming from the NGOs where the rich countries have neglected the area and the crisis it is facing. The WFP reports that the district of Ampanihy, around 80% of the livestock has been lost and the people have very low per capita income and most are unemployed.

This leaves with people having no choice but resorting to measures such as looting, stealing the cattle and robbing on to each other: the situation is anarchic. People have been fighting for survival and the biggest stakeholders in the process the children have lost the most.

Food and Health

Surviving on white clay and tamarind and also on non-nutritious food for several weeks, or months at stretch have stunted the growth of the children in the area. The white clay when consumed at large has resulted in “swollen bellies” in the children and have resulted in numerous deaths.

The locals have been unable to provide their children with the bare minimum requirement of food leading them to witness the deaths in front of their eyes but sometimes when they return fetching food or water they find the dead bodies of their children: this has led them into trauma and has devasted them emotionally.

Climate Change

Climate change has been one of the main reasons behind the arid climate of the region and this type of droughts is not uncommon to the area but a stretch of three years of prolonged drought is really for the first time that the region has experienced. One of the reasons behind the aridity is the effect of El Nino winds.

Much of the island was once covered with evergreen and deciduous forest, but only the Eastern parts is scantly populated with forest cover.

The Guardian.com reports that the plateau suffers seriously from erosion. The forest has been cut in order to clear rice fields, to obtain fuel and building materials, and to export valuable timber such as ebony, rosewood, and sandalwood.

Sources : Africanews and Guardian.com

COVID-19 and the second wave : What it means for India?

COVID 19 here to stay or leave?
India has been experiencing a second wave in the COVID-19. Patients have been rising particularly in the state of Maharashtra, Karnataka,parts of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh and resonable restrictions and night curfews have been put into place.
According to the experts the main reason behind the surge in the cases has been the ignorance of the pandemic protocols such as wearing of masks social distancing frequent sanitisation and taking other effective measures.
Some relief has come since the severity of the cases and mortality rate have now gone down in comparison to those during the first wave of the pandemic hit. According to the experts the reasons for this dip could be that the medical fraternity has come to know of the ways to deal with the patients and the situation. Another plausible reason can be a herd immunity which has been acquired by the people living in India but this remains to be a matter of research since there is no conclusive evidence to prove this.


What is the road ahead for India?
According to the researchers and doctors involved in the medical fraternity a compete lockdown is not the answer to tackling this situation because COVID 19 cannot simply be done away with by locking people at home.
The way forward is to follow the pandemic rules and to speed up the immunisation process but this does not mean that after getting the first dose of vaccination one is immunised completely and cannot acquire COVID 19 again, therefore, the people who have had the first shot also have to follow the COVID 19 protocols.
According to Dr Parker a senior pulmonary consultant, the COVID-19 vaccines must be made available in the free market and the people of the upper middle class and above should pay and get the vaccine whereas the people belonging to the lower income group and below should get the vaccine for free using the money that has been collected by selling the vaccines.
But according to Dr Mehta of Medanta Critical Care ,this is not feasible right now taking into consideration the capacity of production of vaccines and availability of only two types of vaccines in India. This might be taken up after a few months when more options are available with us.


Some takeaways or possibilities in the near future :
The government alone cannot tackle the situation unless it has the cooperation from the people. The government also has to keep in mind while making policies that the people are facing COVID 19 fatigue, are frustrated because of low income and inflation and also because of unemployment and lack of human interaction.
The government instead of going for a complete lockdown should call for certain restrictions like closing down of the community spaces for example religious places, regulate the functioning of physical market places and food joints, provide people with jobs to venture out and boost production to tackle inflation and occupied people will have less time about unnecessarily which might prove effective against slowing down the pace of rise in COVID 19 patients.

Source used : NDTV’s “COVID-19 News : India’s Second COVID Wave Milder than First?Experts Answer” dated 17/03/2021 .