NEW DELHI: In another attempt to embarrass opposition parties supporting the farmers’ protests, the proposal sent by the government to the farmers referred to a committee headed by former Haryana chief minister Bhupendra Singh Hooda, which had recommended repeal or overhaul of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act.
Other members of the committee included then CMs Parkash Singh Badal (Punjab), Nitish Kumar (Bihar) and Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal). “In May 2010, a working group on agricultural produce headed by Bhupendra Singh Hooda had been set up. The committee had the then Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal, West Bengal and Bihar CMs as its members,” the government said in its letter to farmers’ unions.
The government claimed the committee had recommended that restrictions on marketing of agricultural produce be removed. “The committee also recommended that there should not be monopoly on the markets of agricultural produce, neither of mandis of the APMCs nor the mandis of corporates,” the letter claimed.
It said the panel had suggested strengthening private sector in marketing of agricultural produce and developing terminal markets with the help of individual entrepreneurs. The reference to the Hooda-led committee came days after BJP circulated letters of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, who as Union agriculture minister in 2010-2011 had written to CMs seeking changes in the state APMC Acts to encourage private participation.