After Punjab now the Chhattisgarh govt wants withdrawal of farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce(Promotion & Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020. Congress ruled Chhattisgarh CM Bhepesh Baghel has written a letter to the Prime Minister, Narendra Singh Modi in this regard. In his letter he has siad that the ordinance is against the agrarian community’s interest and has pleaded for its withdrawal at the earliest. The ordinance would reduce employment opportunities and is at odds with the country’s federal structure and the welfare state mode. Chhattisgarh is an agriculture-dependent state and 70% of its population is engaged in farming and allied activities, he said.
Baghel stated that significant progress has been made in the production of paddy, maize, sugarcane, and soybean through the advanced technology, quality seeds, and various schemes of the state government that sought to safeguard farmers’ interest.He pointed out that the ordinance allows farmers and traders to buy and sell farm produce outside mandi premises, exemption on a fee on the sale of notified agricultural produce, and transactions can also be made by those who don’t even have a licence and a Permanent Account Number (PAN). This Ordinance has put farmers at the mercy of market forces.
The CM said that the ordinance seeks to make the Mandi Act ineffective and lakhs of farmers in the unorganised sector would be at the mercy of unbridled market forces amid the adverse economic impact of the raging coronavirus ease outbreak.However, if any modification is required, the state government is equipped and open to such a suggestion, he added.Punjab CM Capt Amrinder Singh had already written a leetr to the PM in this regard. The said Ordinance was promulgated on June 5, 2020.
On the other hand, farmers in Punjab on Monday held a statewide protest against the Centre over the issues of ordinances related to the agriculture sector and rising fuel prices.Farmers are against the three ordinances-- the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, which the Centre had promulgated.The protests came despite Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's appeal to farmers' outfits to postpone them because of the restrictions in place to check the spread of novel coronavirus.
