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Karnataka govt revokes amendments to APMC Act
Chief minister Siddaramaiah, in his budget speech, said the Congress government has decided to withdraw the anti-farmer Act in order to protect the interest of farmers.
The Congress-led Karnataka government on Friday announced that they have decided to revoke changes made to the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) act by the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state. Chief minister Siddaramaiah, in his budget speech, said the Congress government has decided to withdraw the anti-farmer Act in order to protect the interest of farmers.
The Karnataka APMC (Regulation and Development) (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was tabled in the Assembly on Wednesday. In the bill, the government pointed out that amendments made by previous the BJP government allowed trading outside APMC yards and stated that this neither helped farmers in getting remunerative prices for their produce nor in improving their economic status.
The amendments were on the lines of the Farms law 2020, which was repealed in November 2021, following the agitation by farmers in Delhi. “Our government expects the Agricultural Produce Market Committees to work in the best interest of the farmers and ensure a fair price for their produce. Our government in its earlier tenure took several measures to strengthen the APMCs and introduced online market system, the first-of-its-kind in the country,” Siddaramaiah said on Friday.
“However, by amending the APMC Act, the previous government weakened the healthy marketing network and created uncertainty in lives of lakhs of farmers who depended on APMCs for their livelihoods,” the chief minister added.
He pointed out that before the amendment to the APMC Act, the total income of 167 APMCs across the state in 2018-19 was between ₹570 crore to ₹600 crore, which has drastically fallen to ₹193 crores in 2022-23, after the Act was amended. “Besides, there are many instances before us, of private companies deceiving and exploiting farmers in the open market. Our government has decided to withdraw this anti-farmer Act in order to protect the interest of farmers.”
He also said that Section 95 of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act will also be amended so that people can convert agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes by way of self-declaration.
The government also relaunched the ‘Krishi Bhagya Scheme’ in convergence with Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme with an allocation of ₹100 crore.
The CM also announced a ‘Navodyama’ scheme with an allocation of ₹10 crore to farmers for value addition of agricultural produce and to encourage innovation in the field of agricultural marketing. “ ₹10 crore will be provided to encourage branding of farmers’ produce on the lines of Nandini to enable marketing of farmers’ produce in state, national and international markets,” Siddaramaiah said.
