Farmers' protest: Centre ready to amend but won't repeal farm laws

The government also expressed readiness to give written assurance on continuing the practice of procurement of farm commodities at MSP

Bowing to pressure from farmers, the Modi government on Wednesday proposed to make significant changes to the three farm sector laws, but rejected their demand for a repeal of the reforms.

After five rounds of talks with Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and informal deliberations with Home Minister Amit Shah, the agitating farmers received a seven-point proposal from the government addressing concerns flagged by them over the reforms.

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On apprehensions of farmers that the reforms would impact Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) mandis, the government proposed to allow state government levy taxes at par with such markets in private trading areas.

Another amendment seeks to grant powers to state governments to frame rules to register private traders as against the new law that allows anybody with a PAN card to buy directly from farmers.

The government also expressed readiness to give a written assurance on continuing the practice of procurement of farm commodities at minimum support prices, but turned down the demand to make it a statutory right.

The Centre also agreed to the farmers' demand to allow them to approach civil courts for settlement of disputes related to sale and purchase of farm produce, instead of settling the matter at the Sub-Divisional Magistrate level.

The Centre also made it clear that the contract farming law does not permit sale, lease or mortgage of farm land nor does it allow the buyer of the crop to build any structure on the farm.

The government also agreed to explicitly mention that the buyer of the crop cannot take loans on any kind of structure that is built on the farm nor can he stake claim to such a structure.

On apprehension over attachment of farm land, the Centre said the new laws do not have any such provision but it is ready to incorporate any clarification in the Act in this regard.

The Centre also made it clear that the Electricity (Amendment) Bill is at a consultation stage right now and there would be no changes in the existing system of payment of power bills.