In line with the public announcement made by the Prime Minister on 19th November, the Parliament today passed the Farm Laws Repeal Bill 2021. The Farm Laws Repeal Bill 2021 was introduced today and passed in no time on the first day of the Winter session of the Parliament after sustained protests by the farmers of the country protested over the last year at the Delhi borders and elsewhere across the country in order demanding the repeals of the three farm laws.
NDTV has reported that the sources have suggested that the government plans to get the bills signed by the President by tonight.
The Farm Laws Repeal Bill 2021 was placed in introduced by the Union Minister of Agriculture NS Tomar in Lok Sabha. The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha in a records time of within 4 minutes amidst the demand from the opposition MP including Adhir Ranjan Choudary’s demand for a discussion on the bill. However, the speaker of Lok Sabha Om Birla disallowed a discussion on the same that the opposition parties have claimed that the government evaded a discussion to avoid the issue of minimum support price for farmers’ produce, which has been a key demand during the farmers’ year-long agitation
A single bill was introduced to repeal the three laws that were passed without discussions in the Parliament last year- the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance, Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020
The Agriculture Minister Tomar placed the bill in the Rajya Sabha shortly after the house was reconvened at 2 PM. In the Rajya Sabha, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge spoke for about two minutes wherein he stated that the government had taken back the three farm laws in view of the forthcoming elections in five states after reviewing the results of the recent by-polls.
The motion to pass the bill was then moved by the agriculture minister and stated that the bills were brought for the benefit of farmers and that he regretted that the government could not convince the agitating farmers about the benefits of the laws.
Responding to the repeal of the farm laws, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait stated that “This is a tribute to all the 750 farmers who lost their lives during the agitation. The protest will continue as other issues including that of legalizing MSP are still pending”
