How bad are the farmer protests across India over the Farm Bill 2020?

Farmers across Haryana and Punjab have been protesting against a set of new laws seeking to liberalise farm trade. On Friday, the protests spread quickly to other states as well and also gradually degenerated into a rail roko agitation by farmers. Farm bills await presidential assent.

Farm protests were seen across the Northern belt and even in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. The farmers want the ban on APMC to be lifted and also are asking for legal sanctity being given to its minimum support price (MSP) promise.

Some of the changes in the new Farm Bill are contentious. For example, it allows a barrier free regime where farm produce can be bought and sold outside state regulated mandis without taxes and fees. The bill also allows farmers to enter into contracts with buyers at a pre-agreed price.

Farmer organisations are planning to hold the government accountable on its promise of MSP procurement and they wanted a legal assurance on that front. The situation becomes grave considering that the Kharif output will start reaching the market from October.