With three agricultural bills slated to be introduced in the Rajya Sabha on Sunday, non-governmental organisations, farmers’ associations and farm activists have alleged that the three bills could do harm to interests of the farmers in the country rather than helping them.
The Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) has alleged that the bills could lead to formation of small-scale monopolies.
In a webinar organised on Saturday, Kiran Kumar Vissa of ASHA has said that the APMCs (agricultural produce marketing committees) helped in setting up benchmarks in pricing. “Farmers around the APMC markets were benefited as these benchmark pricing acted as a check in the local markets,” he said.
He, along with another ASHA activist Kavitha Kuruganti, wanted the Union Government to discuss the bills in detail before getting them passed in the Parliament.
They wanted the government to refer the bills to a select committee as the bills would have far-reaching implications on the agricultural sector and farmers.