We all know the level of support the Aam Admi Party (AAP) had provided to the protests against the 3 farm laws Modi Govt had passed in 2020.

The protests forced the Govt to finally repeal the laws.

Please refer to my article which explains Modi Govt’s farm laws, who would have benefited of that and who all would have lost here.

But not many know that state Govts are themselves started implementing the same laws in “baby steps”.

And leading the show is Punjab which saw the maximum resistance to the 3 farm laws.

The Punjab government has decided to bypass arhtiyas (Mandi Dalals or Middlemen) and instead rope in rural agricultural cooperative societies for procurement of moong, which is scheduled to start from July 1 in the state.

The rural agricultural cooperative societies would sell the produce to Markfed – Punjab’s body for marketing of processed food that functions under the state’s cooperative department. The state agricultural marketing board (Mandi board) has issued instructions to its market committee to issue licenses to the rural agricultural cooperative societies so as to give them rights to sell the produce.

The arhtiyas are upset (for obvious reasons) over the development.  The scheme is such that the payment to the moong growers has to be made directly without a third-party (Mandi Dalal) involvement. This will enable the farmers full value of their produce without the arhtiyas taking a cut from their hard earned money.

Though this is a welcome move, Punjab govt should take this further. How?

  1. Allow private players to do the procurement.
  2. Extent this to Rice and wheat also.

It is not only Punjab. Other states have implemented the farm laws Modi govt has passed. For e.g.

  1. Odisha has allowed contract farming.
  2. Tamil Nadu is allowing the sale of certain crops outside of APMC Mandis.
  3. Maharashtra is also giving conditional access for private players for doing crop procurement.

In nutshell, though Modiji’s farm reforms have not gone through, the spirit behind the laws is not lost and is being carried forward by the same people who opposed it. 

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