Farmer Protests: Why The Impasse

Since November 26, New Delhi has been under virtual siege by perhaps half a million farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, who are protesting three newly-minted farm laws, rammed through Parliament during its monsoon session.

- Anilesh S. Mahajan

While reports frequently boil the protests down to a single issue—MSPs (minimum support prices)—there are actually several points of contention. These include fears that the new laws herald a not-so-distant future without APMCs (Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees), which will disrupt not simply a settled way of doing business but also take away the familiar protection mechanisms of the old system. There is also dissatisfaction with the new dispute-resolution system and issues relating to terms of payment and buyer identification. Protests have been steadily gathering steam since the so-called reforms were first announced as ordinances in early June, and despite three meetings since between the Centre and farmer group leaders, at the time of going to press on December 2, a resolution of issues was nowhere in sight.

The issue of price and purchase guarantees is clearly the most emotive. Under the APMC-MSP system, farmers have a guaranteed buyer—the central and state governments—for certain crops, with prices fixed in advance. While the new laws do not do away with this system, the private markets they make room for have no legally mandated minimum prices. Farmers fear this will, in the short term, leave them at the mercy of large corporates with disproportionate price-setting power and, in the longer run, make the APMC system redundant and MSPs irrelevant. A related aspect is the feared consequences of farmers being allowed to sell products anywhere in India. Under the APMC system, mandis in a given state would procure crops almost exclusively from that state; under the new system, it is possible for farmers in Uttar Pradesh, for example, to sell to