Governor Kalraj Mishra.

Governor puts 3 farm bills passed by Rajasthan govt on hold

Govt puts paddy procurement on hold in Jharkhand

Agency Report | Jaipur/Ranchi | 2 December, 2020 | 11:30 PM

Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra has put on hold the three farm bills passed by the Rajasthan government on November 2 to bypass the Central farm laws, official sources confirmed on Wednesday.

All the three bills will now be delayed for an indefinite period, the sources added.

The state government had passed the three farm bills to change the ‘disputed’ provisions introduced by the Union government in the three farm laws passed by the Parliament in September. Now, these three legislations can become law only after the approval of the President, the sources said, adding that the Governor can hold the bills for as long as he wants.

The Congress has been objecting the three Central farm laws across the country and has also staged demonstrations in Rajasthan. On November 2, the state Assembly had passed three agricultural bills to change the provisions of the farm laws passed by the state government.

Surprisingly, there has been no progress in these bills since the last one month. While the Pandemic Bill recently got the approval of the Governor, he withheld the three agriculture bills.

The three bills withheld by the Governor include Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2020; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2020; and The Essential Commodities (Special Provisions and Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2020.

The first bill provides for imprisonment for up to seven years and a fine of Rs 5 lakh for oppressing the farmer. The second bill has stringent provisions on contract farming, and imposes a punishment of up to seven years and a fine of Rs 5 lakh for forcing the farmer to sell his produce for less than its MSP. The third bill empowers the government to impose stock limits on agricultural commodities. This provision was removed by the Centre.
Jharkhand govt has stopped paddy procurement a day after it started procuring the crop from the farmers.

Jharkhand Food and Civil Supplies Minister Rameshwar Oraon has asked to put paddy procurement on hold for 15 days. The reason cited by the minister is that the crop is still wet.

“The paddy is currently wet. The state government will suffer losses if wet paddy is procured. I was also a farmer and I know when the paddy will get dry. The harvesting of paddy has started in the villages after which it takes nearly 15 days to dry the paddy. If purchased after 15 days, the weight of the paddy will automatically get reduced by 5 kg,” Oraon said.

He added, “The state government is paying Rs 2,050 for one quintal of paddy and the crop should be worth the price. If we continue to purchase paddy, then it will incur losses to the government.”

The minister said that in some states like Punjab, harvesting of paddy had commenced a month earlier as that state has a different environment and the procurement process has been completed.

The procurement of paddy in Jharkhand had commenced from December 1. The government has fixed the MSP of paddy at Rs 1,868 per quintal and over that is giving a bonus of Rs 182 after which the farmers will get Rs 2,050 for per quintal of paddy.