Supreme Court-appointed experts committee : Majority of farmers’ organisations (85.7%) supported the three farm laws
New Delhi (NewsReach) : Months before the Centre repealed the three controversial farm laws, a Supreme Court-appointed experts committee had recommended against their withdrawal, underlining that a “majority” farm unions support them and “a repeal or a long suspension” would be “unfair to this silent majority”. The committee’s report was made public on Monday for the first time since it was submitted to the apex court a year ago.
The 92-page report was released by Anil Ghanwat, one of the three members of the committee, at a press conference in New Delhi on Monday. Two other members of the committee, agricultural economists Ashok Gulati and Dr Parmod Kumar Joshi, were not present on the occasion.
The shocking revelation in the report is that about 85.7 percent of the farmer organizations were in support of the agricultural law. The report revealed that 61 out of 73 farmers groups supported the laws. The committee, in its report, said that “repealing or prolonged suspension of these laws would be unfair against the silent majority who support agricultural laws”.
85.7 percent farmer organizations in support
“The feedback received by the committee through its online portal established that one-third of the respondents did not support the farm laws and around two-thirds were in their favour. The feedback received through e-mails also shows that a majority supported the farm laws. In view of this feedback, the committee recommends that a repeal or a long suspension would, therefore, be unfair to this ‘silent’ supporters,” said the report.
The committee favored bringing in some flexibility in the implementation and framework of the laws. The committee’s bilateral interactions with the stakeholders revealed that only 13.3 per cent of the stakeholders were not in favor of the three laws. About 85.7 percent of farmer organizations representing over 3.3 crore farmers supported the laws.
Report submitted a year ago
You will remember that the Modi government had brought three agriculture laws. Against whom a movement was raised. After which the Supreme Court had formed a panel to study agricultural laws and talk to the agitating farmers. Ashok Gulahi, Pramod Kumar Joshi and Anil Dhanwat were three members of this panel. They submitted this report to the Supreme Court on 19 March 2021. Since then, Dhanvat has been continuously demanding to make this report public. In November 2021, the Modi government withdrew all three agricultural laws.
