Protests of farmers against the three new agriculture acts continued on Tuesday and The ‘Rail Roko’ agitation by the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee entered the sixth day.
The three bills – he Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) bill, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services bill, 2020 and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) bill, 2020 – initially passed in both houses with minimum discussion with the opposition, received the President’s assent on Sunday and are now fully applicable.
On Monday, the first petition against the centre’s new contentious agricultural bills was filed in the Supreme Court. Kerala MP TN Prathapan filed a plea against two of the three bills – Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act. He seeks the quashing of the laws as unconstitutional and illegal.
On Monday, tractors were burnt at Delhi’s India Gate and a border area in Punjab, allegedly by protesters. Six people have been arrested over the incident. Later in the day, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi urged states to use their power in the matter to negate the new laws.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “They are insulting the farmers by setting fire to the machines and equipment that is worshipped by them. For years, they said that they will implement MSP but they never did. This was done by our govt as per the recommendation of the Swaminathan Commission.”