Name: Even Montek panel wanted to reform Punjab farming like Modi govt. But Amarinder got cold feet
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Even Montek panel wanted to reform Punjab farming like Modi govt. But Amarinder got cold feet

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Sign inWelcome! Log into your accountPassword recoveryRecover your passwordA password will be e-mailed to you.Text Size:A-A+Chandigarh: Captain Amarinder Singh’s Congress government in Punjab has vociferously opposed the three central farm laws, against which thousands of farmers are protesting on the outskirts of national capital Delhi. This opposition also reflects in its decision to ignore a report it had from a panel — headed by UPA-era Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia — that recommended many of the same things the new laws do.CM Amarinder had, in April last year, tasked the committee with preparing a post-Covid economic strategy for Punjab, and Ahluwalia submitted the first part of its report to the government in July last year. But the government did not warm up to its contents.The committee’s 80-page report, accessed by ThePrint, was submitted to the government in July last year. It had said, for example, Punjab’s agriculture produce marketing committees (APMC) were “restrictive” and provided for “high licence fees”, and that agricultural marketing should move beyond them.This is one of the major points of contention among farmers — they are demanding a repeal of, among others, the Farmers’ Produce Trade And Commerce (Promotion And Facilitation) Act, 2020, which allows sale of farm produce outside APMC jurisdiction, bars civil courts’ jurisdiction, and overrides state APMC laws. The farmers contend that the Act will expose them to exploitation by unscrupulous private players.The report caused quite a furore over its opposition to the government’s law of giving free power to farmers, and an embarrassed Amarinder had to shun the recommendation publicly. However, the government did ask its various departments to go through the report and pick out the “” recommendations for implementation.Also read:Ahluwalia, an economist and former civil servant, gathered a group of experts for the committee, including Dr Ashok Gulati, Infosys chair professor of agriculture at ICRIER, who is now a member of the Supreme Court-appointed committee that has to find a way out of the impasse between the agitating farmers and the government, and Rajendra Gupta, chairman of the Trident Group whose tenure as vice-chairman of the Punjab State Planning Board was recently extended by the Amarinder Singh government.The first part of the report, titled ‘Medium and Long Term Post-Covid Economic Strategy for Punjab: A Multi Sectoral Approach to Building Resilience and Recovery’, made several other recommendations that find resonance in the central farm laws passed last year.Continuing its criticism of APMCs, the committee stated that the Punjab State Agricultural Marketing Board or mandi board had a “conflict of interest” in being the licencing authority, and that high mandi board fees did not allow for a fair playing field. This is another issue on which the farmers are adamant on a status quo, which they believe is essential for the procurement of crops on MSP.The Ahluwalia committee also recommended promoting contract farming and allowing private companies to have a bigger foothold in agriculture. The Farmers’ (Empowerment And Protection) Agreement On Price Assurance And Farm Services Act, 2020, which provides a framework for contract farming, has been severely criticised by the farmers.Similarly, the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020, which allows the government to regulate the supply only a few items during emergencies, is seen by the farmers as an attempt to facilitate large corporate houses to hoard agricultural produce. The panel has not directly addressed this issue, but farmers are anyway opposed to attempts to bring private players into the agriculture market, which the committee broadly recommends.The report traced how Punjab went from a leader in agriculture to having half the agriculture growth rate of the entire country in the last four decades.“Agricultural GSDP in Punjab grew at 5.7 per cent per annum in the period from 1971-72 to 1985-86. This was almost two and a half times the all-India growth rate in that period. Punjab was clearly a leader in those years. However, agricultural growth in Punjab slipped to about the same as the growth rate for the country as a whole in the second period, from 1986-87 to 2004-05. In the most recent period, agricultural growth in Punjab was only 1.9 per cent per year, which is only a little over half the growth rate in agriculture for the country as a whole,” it said.“This slowdown in agricultural growth in Punjab is often explained by the fact that Punjab had reached very high levels of productivity in cereal crops and the other states are catching up. But that only means Punjab should have aimed for higher growth by diversifying into other high value crops. Although the need to diversify has been recognised for years, Punjab has not done nearly as much on this front as it should have,” the committee concluded.Also read:The report recommended that the strategy for agriculture needs to be radically altered to shift away from the wheat-rice cycle that Punjab has followed traditionally, and diversify rapidly into high-value crops and modern agro processing.“From a sustainability point of view, the basic agricultural objective should be to reduce the area under common paddy by about 1 million hectares (out of total 3.1 million hectares under paddy) over the next 6-7 years, along with a blueprint for diversification into other crops over the same period,” it suggested.“Punjab should also consider gradually reducing procurement of paddy from the extremely water-stressed areas. Since the government already has a proposal to incentivise farmers in 27 extremely water-stressed blocks to diversify into maize, the diversification plan can be extended to high-value crops, particularly horticulture. This should be accompanied by incentives for private investments in marketing as well as in value addition/processing of commodities,” the report went on to recommend.“Promoting food parks, cold chain investments, cluster based FPOs/FIGs, contract farming, etc. would help to support the farm diversification efforts while also reducing the market risk in case of high value perishables,” it added.In order to achieve this, Montek Ahluwalia and his panel suggested the opening up of agricultural marketing beyond the APMCs. “The government has taken steps to amend the Punjab APMC Act, but the rules and regulations still contain too many restrictive provisions in terms of high licence fees, exclusion of many of the crops into which diversification is likely, uncertain period of the validity of the licences, and also having the mandi board as the licencing authority which involves a potential conflict of interest,” their report said.“We recommend that Punjab government should conduct a careful comparison of the provisions in Punjab with those prevalent in other states. If Haryana and Uttar Pradesh move to a more liberal arrangement, Punjab runs the risk of losing potential investments by processors, exporters, organised retailers etc,” it added.“This diversion also implies a loss of jobs and tax revenues. The Punjab government should therefore quickly frame the rules and notify the amendments related to levy of market fees, commission fees, licencing, etc. which make Punjab competitive with other states.”Also read:&nbsp;Support Our JournalismIndia needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking .ALL A bunch of hypocrites…Congress had on many occasions themselves espoused the very same reforms as contained in the three Agri Bills, but for purely political expediency, they see the “farmers” protests as a surefire weapon they can use to pillory the govt, since they have no solutions of their own to offer.Imagine how powerful is middlemen lobby with politicians. All experts wanted reforms which were passed. Farmers can have issues with some points in laws which can be discussed but complete repeal of laws should not be done. Reforms at this point are required to accelerate growth of farm sector.Thanks to The Print for publishing such reports. Happy to be a subscriber since these reports are unbiased.Montek Singh Sir – please come out openly in support of the laws. We all need to rise above party politics and work in the national interest. Modiji’s plea in the RS was clear. He is happy to take the blows, but wants the laws implemented since they are for the farmer’s benefit and will unleash the entrepreuner in them.The rulers in Punjab do not just represent the interests of the rich farmers , middlemen and traders, they themselves are all the three put to gather. Something overlooked by the expert committee.If the marginal farmers’ land is on informal( by coercive methods) lease to the rich ones, who are exploiting it through free power, subsidized fertilizers and cheap migrant out of state labour, with assured procurement, the small farmer himself is free to sit on the agitation so long as he gets the bonus Bhatta, and comforts of life which are not available in the village. Once the legal actions start these very farmers will be the first disappear that is the risk they will not take against the bonus and goodies of life on the agitation site.Small numbers with big nuisance value is not a solution for success in a democracy.The REAL FARMERS are protesting for over two months now. That means the farmers who are working on their fields must be FAKE FARMERS by definition. All farming subsidies to REAL FARMERS must be stopped. Let them go to Pakistan and live happily ever after there. I support the REAL FAKE FARMERS of INDIA.Agriculture reforms should be implemented in Punjab and elsewhere rising above petty politics.The truth is that the present cosy arrangement benefits a few crony capitalism/ middlemen. So they are up in arms under the garb of poor farmers. Most of the protestors are rich farmers/ middlemen/busybodies etc who will lose out on their privileges. The winners, with the new tax laws, will be the tax payer, small farmers and entrepreneurs, poor farm labourers and the customers.Really?Then why didn’t you corrupt b@stards do something about these “reforms”?Rascals, you have looted the country for 70 years.Comments are closed.Substance of Print, Reach of DigitalContact us:Copyright © 2022 Printline Media Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.&nbsp;

Sign inWelcome! Log into your accountPassword recoveryRecover your passwordA password will be e-mailed to you.Text Size:A-A+Chandigarh: Captain Amarinder Singh’s Congress government in Punjab has vociferously opposed the three central farm laws, against which thousands of farmers are protesting on the outskirts of national capital Delhi. This opposition also reflects in its decision to ignore a report it had from a panel — headed by UPA-era Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia — that recommended many of the same things the new laws do.CM Amarinder had, in April last...

Even Montek panel wanted to reform Punjab farming like Modi govt. But Amarinder got cold feet

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