Sharad Pawar questions composition of SC appointed committee on farm laws

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has questioned the composition of the committee appointed by the Supreme Court to discuss contentious farm laws and give their recommendations

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has questioned the composition of the committee appointed by the Supreme Court to discuss contentious farm laws and give their recommendations. Pawar welcomed the intervention in the issue by the Apex court but said that the members of the committee have supported the three farm laws in the past, thus farmers do not trust the committee. He said that the committee should have been independent in a true sense.

NCP Chief Sharad Pawar. (HT Photo)

The Supreme Court (SC) has formed a four-member committee to discuss the legislation with both farmers and the government and make recommendations to the court on Tuesday. It comprises Dr Pramod Kumar Joshi (agricultural economist, director for South Asia, International Food Policy Research Institute), Ashok Gulati (agriculture economist and former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices), Bhupinder Singh Mann (national president, Bhartiya Kisan Union and All India Kisan Coordination Committee), and Anil Ghanwat (president, Shetkari Sanghatana).

“I welcome the intervention made by the SC and express discontent over the way the Centre handled the farmers’ agitation. But if you see the composition of the committee, all the members have supported the farm bills at different points of time, in some or other way. This is the reason farmers do not have faith in the committee and believe that nothing will come out of the discussions with it, and I share the same view,” Pawar told reporters outside YB Chavan in south Mumbai on Thursday.

“It would have been better if the central government would have understood the seriousness of the issue. An independent means, in a true sense, the independent committee should have been appointed,” said the former agriculture minister.

Regardless of severe cold wave in Delhi, the farmers along with their families are protesting at Delhi borders since the last 50 days. They want the farm laws to be repealed by the central government, he added.

On January 12, the SC stayed the implementation of the three contentious farm laws that have brought tens of thousands of protesting farmers to Delhi’s doorstep and constituted a four-member committee.

But the farm unions are unimpressed and have insisted that the protest would continue. They have pointed out that all members of the court-appointed committee had previously indicated their support for the controversial laws.