The Congress party will strongly oppose the proposed legislations for replacing three agriculture-related ordinances and one that brought cooperative banks under the RBI’s supervision, during the monsoon session of Parliament.
Senior leader Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said two of the ordinances pertained to agri-marketing and the third was linked to the Essential Commodities Act. He said the Chief Ministers of the Congress-ruled Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, besides the former Chief Minister of Haryana, had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue.
Punjab’s Assembly passed a resolution against the ordinances, while demonstrations were being held in the States. Agriculture comes under the State list but the Centre did not even consult the State governments, he said.
Mechanisms of MSP affected
Mr. Ramesh said the ordinances, to the disadvantage of farmers, promoted contract and corporate farming, and would hit the revenue of the States, apart from destroying the mechanisms of the minimum support price and public procurement, thereby weakening food security.
On the Banking Regulation Act, he said the Congress had five specific objections.
“Cooperative banks are part of the structure of cooperatives and ought to be regulated by the State governments and not by the Central government. If the ordinance becomes law, all key financial intermediaries will come under the control of the Central government, there will be more centralisation. The Congress stands for de-centralisation and empowering the States,” he said.
Mr. Ramesh said the ordinance gave power to the Centre to change the membership structure of a cooperative. For instance, farmer-promoted district cooperative bank could be transferred to the hands of non-farmers.
“The RBI is being vested with more regulatory responsibilities. Its record of regulating banks in some NBFCs is mixed. There is no justification to make the RBI a regulator of district and urban cooperative banks,” he said.
Stating that the four ordinances were against the spirit of cooperative federalism, Mr. Ramesh said the Congress was in talks with likeminded parties and, in general, there was a consensus to oppose them.
₹25,000 cr. on Central Vista project
Two other ordinances were for 30% deduction in the salaries of MPs and Ministers. The Congress would not oppose them but would raise questions on the proposed spending of about ₹25,000 crore on the Central Vista project at a time when the economy was in disarray. The party would also oppose the two-year freeze on MPLADs, due to which developmental works were stalled.
The Congress will support the two ordinances related to the Ayurveda Council and the Homeopathy Council, but will oppose some proposed amendments to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and taxation laws, particularly the PM CARES Fund.
Mr. Ramesh said the Fund had no transparency as it did not come under the jurisdiction of the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Right to Information Act. Amid the face-off with China, some news reports suggested that certain Chinese firms had also contributed to the Fund, he said.
Mr. Ramesh said the six-month relief from payments provided through the proposed amendment to the Code, which could be extended to a year, was not in the interest of the MSMEs, which were to receive payments from big companies.
The Congress has welcomed the changes to the Epidemic Diseases Act to provide security to healthcare professionals.
COVID-19, economy, job losses
During the session, the Congress plans to raise issues related to COVID-19, economy, job losses, poverty and privatisation of airports.
Expressing hope that Mr. Modi would be present in both the Houses to answer the queries of parliamentarians, Mr. Ramesh said the Prime Minister’s statement to political parties that there was no incursion had weakened the country’s position.
“The greatest damage to our cause has been caused by the Prime Minister’s own statement. He owes an explanation why he made that statement. It has singlehandedly weakened India’s case and the status quo ante on LAC has not been restored.”
Mr. Ramesh said the MPs, who were unable to physically attend the session due to health reasons, should be given online access to address Parliament.