Farmers Are Behaving Irresponsibly Now
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
View all posts by this Author
By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2020-12-16 15:18:14
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
View all posts by this Author
The farm unions have all but rejected the idea of a committee to discuss and solve the dispute over the new farm bills. This is unfortunate. The unions are adamant that the laws have to be repealed. They say that forming a committee is not the solution as the talks which were being held with the government were being held in the form of a committee meeting only. In short, the farmers are saying that there is nothing to discuss and the laws need to be repealed. They are also saying that if a committee needed to be formed, the time for that was before the said acts were drafted and then enacted.
This adamant and inflexible attitude is incomprehensible. Do the farmers mean to say that there is nothing good in the three new bills? Do they mean to say that the farm sector should run as it is running now and there is no need for reforms? Do they mean to say that they are totally against any kind of reform? If not, then why are they consistently insisting on repealing the laws and are not willing to discuss the new bills clause by clause, as suggested by the government, and suggest deletion, alteration or amendment of offending clauses?
Structural reforms change the status quo completely and in the process trample upon many sensitive toes. But that does not mean that they cannot be undertaken. In the 1990s, the economy had opened up and old monopoly businesses (the Ambassador car, for one) had suffered. They had been protected and insulated for long. But the changed reality post the opening up of the economy saw competition and survival of the fittest, with the consumer being the king.
Obviously, the farm sector cannot be subjected to such ruthless changes. The government is not unaware of the fact. The new farm bills have enough checks and balances to prevent a takeover by the corporate sector. Yet, if the farmers feel that there are shortcomings or are fearful about anything, the government is willing to listen to them and change the laws suitably.
But if they resist change just for the sake of maintaining the outdated status quo and do not allow the government to introduce much needed reforms, they will be doing a disservice to the nation. They should change their stand and negotiate with the government to have the law amended to protect their interests while allowing reforms.
