Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government is considering the formulation of law to bypass the Centre's three contentious Farm Bills, Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar has said.
The agriculture department has been instructed to look into this possibility of the state formulating a law. Also, the Law Minister has been requested to let the legal department examine this, he added.
"The Centre's law spells doom for the farmers. The state has also decided to move the Supreme Court against such laws. Along with the legal battle, alternative policies would also be implemented. Instead of contract farming, cultivation on a cooperative basis would be encouraged,” he explained.
The three bills brought in by the Centre are the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill.
“The Modi government is handing over the farmers’ land and market to the corporates. Through contract farming, the Centre claims that the productivity would increase and farmers’ expenses would reduce,” he said.
However, the Minister pointed out similar attempts that had failed in the past.
“A type of melon was cultivated by the farmers in Karnataka on a contract basis with the corporate companies. But the companies repeatedly failed to hold up their end of the bargain, and the farmers were forced to abandon the cultivation. The tomato farmers in Maharashtra are forced to sell tomatoes to the companies for Rs 2/kg. As they do not get a fair price, farmers in several states are forced to abandon their crop in the farmlands,” the Kerala minister explained.
As many as 10,281 farmers committed suicide in India in 2019 alone, he pointed out.
“As per the seventh schedule of the Constitution, the agriculture and related sectors come under the purview of the state. The agricultural policies of each state are formulated depending on the particulars of that region. The Centre has robbed the states of their powers through amendments," he alleged.
The Kerala Assembly had passed a resolution in 2016 against the cultivation of genetically-modified crops in the state. As the Essential Commodities Bill comes into effect, storage and minimum support price would be eventually rendered irrelevant, Sunil Kumar alleged.
