New farm laws showing results for farmers: Agriculture minister

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Monday that the new agriculture law, Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, has started helping farmers soon after the implementation, contrary to allegations by rival parties.
In a recent case, this law helped a poor farmer from Maharashtra to get rightful remuneration for his crops from a trader in Barwani district in Madhya Pradesh in an inter-state trade.

“A farmer from Dhule district in Maharshtra sold 270.95 quintal maize to a trade from Barwani district in Madhya Pradesh. Later on, the trader refused to pay the farmer his dues after a dispute. The farmer moved Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) court in Barwani which intervened and facilitated in the payment of Rs 3.32 lakh to the farmer as per the new law,” Tomar said.

He said that the new laws protect interest of farmers and prevent them entering into long drawn legal battles.

“Under the new law, in case of any dispute between farmers and buyers, SDM can intervene and appoint a board to settle the matter through conciliation.

“If the matter is not resolved through conciliation, SDM will have to the power to hear the matter and settle it in his court within a given time period,” Tomar said.

He said that parties involved in the dispute will have the right to move to higher authority for review.

“The collector of the concerned district or the additional collector nominated by the collector would be the appellate authority. The aggrieved party may, within thirty days of passing of such order, file an appeal to the appellate authority in physical or electronic format,” he said.

Tomar said that the laws have been well accepted across the country except in Punjab where farmers are being mislead by political parties.

“Some political parties are playing with the fortune of farmers. They are playing dirty politics. Farmers are suffering for their vested interest. The outcome of new laws will bring revolutionary changes in the lives of farmers,” he said.