After Punjab, Rajasthan Passes Bills to Counter Centre’s Farm Laws

Rajasthan government on Saturday, 31 October, introduced three Bills in the Assembly.

File image of Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot.

(Photo: IANS)

The Rajasthan government on Monday, 2 November, passed three bills in the Assembly to counter the contentious farm laws enacted by the Centre recently.

Ahead of the voice vote, the BJP MLAs staged a walkout.

During the Assembly debate, Rajasthan Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal said that the whole nation is against the farm laws enacted by the Centre.

“I can say it with the guarantee that all three farm laws will have to be withdrawn just like the Land Acquisition Act,” Dhariwal said, reported news agency PTI.

Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria, meanwhile, said that the farm laws were not introduced in the Parliament suddenly.

Kataria further stated that the laws were made after taking the recommendation of the Swaminathan Commission, which talked about ‘one nation, one market’; contract farming; and the abolition of indirect mandi taxes, reported PTI.

Slamming the Congress, Kataria said that the Rajasthan government introduced the bills in the Assembly to please their leaders in New Delhi.

“If someone has worked to bring a change in farmers’ life, it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Kataria said.

Following the debate, the House passed the Essential Commodities (Special Provisions and Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2020; Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2020; and Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation and Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2020 by voice vote.

The three Bills had been tabled in the Assembly on Saturday.

The state minister also introduced the Code of Procedure (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill 2020 during the session.

Earlier, in October, Punjab had passed four bills to counter the Centre’s farm laws. The bills barred the sale or purchase of wheat or paddy below the minimum support price, made forcing farmers to sell below MSP punishable and also prevented black-marketing of food grains.

The Chhattisgarh Assembly has also approved the Chhattisgarh Krishi Upaj Mandi (Amendment) Bill 2020 for the same.

(With inputs from PTI)