The Union cabinet is likely to approve a draft bill on Wednesday to set in motion a legislative process to repeal three contentious farm laws at the heart of a massive year-long farmers’ agitation.
An official familiar with the development said the draft bill has been vetted by the law department.
The Cabinet’s nod will allow the government to table the “repeal bill” in Parliament to revoke three separate laws enacted by the government in Sept 2020 to liberalise trade in farm produce.
A bulletin from the Lok Sabha on Tuesday evening listed the The Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021 as one of the 26 pieces of legislation to be introduced in the winter session of Parliament, which begins on November 29.
{{/usCountry}}A bulletin from the Lok Sabha on Tuesday evening listed the The Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021 as one of the 26 pieces of legislation to be introduced in the winter session of Parliament, which begins on November 29.
{{/usCountry}}Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Nov 19 announced that his government will revoke the laws during the winter session of Parliament. The laws had drawn out tens of thousands of farmers in protests.
Under Article 245, Parliament is vested with powers to both pass and annul laws. If Parliament is in recess, the government can repeal or enact laws by bringing an ordinance, which needs to be ratified by Parliament later.
The legislative process of passing, amending or scrapping a legislation is largely the same, experts said. A fresh repealing bill needs to be approved by Parliament in case of junking an existing law.
“A bill to repeal an existing law and its passage is all that is needed. It has to be passed by a majority like any other law,” said GC Malhotra, former secretary general of the Lok Sabha.
The three farm laws that will be repealed are the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020.
These laws were aimed to ease restrictions on trade in farm produce, allow food traders to stockpile large stocks of food for future sales and lay down a national framework for contract farming based on written agreement.
Farm unions say the legislation would leave them at the mercy of large corporations, leaving them with little bargaining power.
The decision to scrap the laws comes ahead of crucial state elections in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous, bellwether state, and Punjab, where farmers are an influential voting bloc.
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