Chandigarh, Nov 11 (FN Representative) The Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Thursday passed a resolution against the three Farm Laws passed by Parliament, stating that a farmer is neither a trader nor is he engaged in any commercial activity, he is simply a cultivator, grower or producer, who brings his produce in APMC market for selling it, either at MSP or at a price dictated by the trader. Terming the three farm laws as an attack on federal structure, Agriculture Minister Randeep Singh Nabha presented the legislation for condemnation of three farm laws and demanded immediate repealing of these laws for safeguarding the peasantry. The specially-convened session of Punjab Vidhan Sabha noted with concern that at the time of passage of the contentious bills in Rajya Sabha, the Opposition’s demand for division by count was not accepted.
The resolution said the entry 33 of concurrent list relates to trade and commerce and agriculture is neither trade nor commerce. The farmer is neither a trader nor is he engaged in commercial activity. They (farmers) are simply cultivators/growers/producers, who bring his produce in APMC market for selling it, either at MSP or at a price dictated by the trader. The Punjab Vidhan Sabha deplored the act of the Union Government of misleading Parliament by wrongfully interpreting the term foodstuff in Entry 33 (b) of the concurrent list to be the same as agriculture stuff (agricultural produce) and therefore, made a questionable yet dishonest attempt to achieve indirectly what it could not do directly. The House reminded the Union Government that APMC Acts have constitutional validity and sanction.
These are State laws enacted under the presumption that agriculture and agricultural marketing is a State subject. The regulated Mandis established under APMC Acts have a legal foundation, infrastructure and a well-defined mechanism of documenting each and every purchase is done by a trader or a government procurement agency. On the other hand, the unregulated markets are akin to spurious trade centers without any infrastructure, institutional support and accountability, it added.