FARM BILL 2020 ALL ABOUT the AGRICULTURAL BILL Contents
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67th MONTHLY ISSUE JANUARY 2021 EDITION Vanik’s Current Affairs Banking | Railway | Insurance | SSC | UPSC | OPSC | PSU FARM BILL 2020 ALL ABOUT THE AGRICULTURAL BILL Contents Topics of the Month -------------------------------------------------------- 1 Economy -------------------------------------------------------- 11 RBI in News -------------------------------------------------------- 11 SBI in News --------------------------------------------------------- 11 Other Banks in News ------------------------------------------------ 12 Financial News ------------------------------------------------ 17 MOU and Agreement ------------------------------------------------ 18 Rating and Survey ------------------------------------------------ 20 Fund and Financial Allocation ------------------------------------- 21 Corporate Business and E-Business ------------------------------- 23 Committee and Its Head -------------------------------------------------------- 23 State News -------------------------------------------------------- 24 National -------------------------------------------------------- 35 International -------------------------------------------------------- 42 International and National Summits --------------------------------------- 44 Ranking and Index -------------------------------------------------------- 47 Bilateral -------------------------------------------------------- 49 Award -------------------------------------------------------- 50 Person in News/Newly Appointed -------------------------------------------- 54 Sports -------------------------------------------------------- 56 Science and Technology -------------------------------------------------------- 59 Defence -------------------------------------------------------- 61 Important Days -------------------------------------------------------- 63 Book and Author -------------------------------------------------------- 65 Obituary -------------------------------------------------------- 66 Miscellaneous -------------------------------------------------------- 67 MAGAZINE FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY – 2021 MAJOR ISSUES OF THE MONTH Page | 1 MAGAZINE FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY – 2021 INDIAN FARMERS’ 1 PROTEST The 2020 Indian farmers' protest is an ongoing protest against the three farm acts which were passed by the Parliament of India in September 2020. The acts have been described as "anti-farmer laws" by many farmer unions and politicians from the opposition also say it would leave farmers at the "mercy of corporates". The government, however, maintains that they will make it effortless for farmers to sell their produce directly to big buyers, and stated that the protests are based on misinformation What are the Newly Passed Agriculture Ordinance in 2020? Bill-1 Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 – this was introduced by the Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar. This farm bill 2020 let the intra and interstate farmers produce even outside the premises of APMC markets without paying any extra market free, cess or levy as State governments are prohibited from levying any of those. Bill-2 Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill 2020 – this was also introduced by the Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar. This farmers bill 2020 aims for framing contractual farming between a buyer and farmer, through an agreement. This should be done before the production of any agro product. Three-tier dispute settlement framework is provided here – Sub-Divisional Magistrate, the conciliation board and Appellate Authority. Bill-3 The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill – this was introduced by Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Shri Raosaheb Patil Danve. This agriculture ordinance 2020 empowers the Government of India to control the supply of particular agro-food products under unusual situations like war. In case of a steep hike of price, stock limits can be applied on farm products. Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 How does it help? Removal of barriers for Intra/ inter-state business of agricultural products. Farmers can sell their product to anyone coming from anywhere. Seamless electronic trade is supported here. Encourages ending the monopoly of traders. Increased competition among consumers or buyers. Farmers get better and return thus increasing income rate. Free movement of agro products from surplus to deficit regions. This farm bill 2020 creates a national market. End consumer gets better items at cheaper prices. Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill 2020 How does it help? This agriculture reform bill opens the window for farmers to enter into agreements with large buyers, retailers and exporters. 2 | Page MAGAZINE FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY – 2021 Farmers get to know the price before starting sowing. The market risk gets transferred to sponsor from farmers. High-quality seeds, pesticides and fertilisers can be availed by the farmers. Private investors will be interested in farming. A door to the global market. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill How does it help? Many agro foods like pulses, onion, potatoes, oilseeds, cereals, and edible oils are removed from the essential commodities list by this farm bill 2020. Except under unusual circumstances, this newly passed agriculture bill does away with the imposition of stock limit. Business and traders get rid of harassment. With the improvement of storage facilities, the wastage rate is likely to get reduced. This latest agriculture policy aims for a stable price which will eventually help in raising farm incomes. Reasons behind Protest against Agriculture Bill 2020 What are the major concerns of farmers and how is government negotiating it? 1. Fear of erosion of MSP The core demand of farmer groups protesting is to safeguard the mechanism of MSP which they fear will be weakened by new farm bills. They are demanding for a legal right to MSP The government has repeatedly assured that the laws would make no changes to the MSP system, but the farmers fear these will effectively lead to abolition of the prevailing arrangement, which offers them a modicum of security. Government Offer: The Central government has agreed to give a written assurance regarding the existing MSP-based procurement system. However, it is not clear whether the written assurance will be provided through an amendment or an executive order. 2. Taxation in Trade Areas Presently, all purchases of paddy and wheat undertaken through government-regulated mandis in Punjab currently attract 3 per cent APMC market fee and 3 per cent rural development cess. In Haryana, the same levies amount to 2 per cent each. Section 6 of the FPTC Act, 2020, prohibits State governments from collecting market fee, cess or levy for trade outside the APMC market The farmers have been saying that the absence of such a fee would encourage trade outside mandis, eventually rendering APMC Mandis insignificant. Government Offer: By amending the new Act, it can be provided that the state government can implement the system of registration of private mandis. Also, the state government can fix the rate of cess / fee, to be collected from such trade areas, up to the rate of cess / fee applicable to the existing APMC mandis 3. Court process The new Farm Acts put a bar on jurisdiction of civil courts and say disputes have to be referred to conciliation boards and appellate authorities, appointed by the local sub-divisional magistrates and district collectors. Government Offer: If any dispute arises under the new farm laws, farmers can be allowed to approach civil court 4. Other Issues Farmers also withdrawal of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2020; withdrawal of cases registered against activists and protesters; and implementation of Swaminathan Commission report to fix MSP with C2+50 percent formulae. Other assurances made by the Centre include resolution of grievances related to a new air quality management ordinance, which calls for steep penalty in case of stubble burning. Union Government has also said that the existing arrangement on subsidy on electricity usage by farmers will not be modified To secure future of agriculture and to improve livelihood of half of India’s population, adequate attention needs to be given to improve the welfare of farmers and raise agricultural income. It is essential to mobilize States and UTs to own and achieve the goal of doubling farmers’ income with active focus on capacity building (technology adoption and awareness) of farmers that will be the catalyst to boost farmers income. Page | 3 MAGAZINE FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY – 2021 Since India is a diverse country where majority of agriculture is monsoon dependent therefore interventions are needed which includes research, technology promotion, extension, post harvest management, processing and marketing, in consonance with comparative advantage of each State/region and its diverse agro-climatic features; and then the Country can indeed achieve the goal of doubling farmers’ income by the year 2022. DEFENCE MINISTER HANDED OVER DRDO SYSTEMS TO 2 ARMED FORCES CHIEFS Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh handed over three indigenously developed Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) systems to