Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021

About the bill-

• The bill is aimed at repealing three farm laws, namely: 

1. The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 which is aimed at allowing trade in agricultural produce outside the existing APMC mandis.
2. The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, which seeks to provide a framework for contract farming.
3. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020, which is aimed at removing commodities such as cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onion and potato from the list of essential commodities.

• The six-page Bill contains only three sections: 

1. The first section defines the title of the Act – the Farm Laws Repeal Act, 2021.
2. The second section has provisions to repeal three farm laws.
3. The third section relates to omitting sub-section (1A) from section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.

• The government had inserted sub-section (1A) in the section 3 of the Essential Commodity Act, 1955 that empowers the government to control production, supply, distribution, etc., of essential commodities. 
• The sub-section (1A) provides a mechanism to regulate the supply of foodstuffs, including cereals, pulses, potato, onions, edible oilseeds and oils under “extraordinary circumstances” which may include war, famine, extraordinary price rise and natural calamity of grave nature. 
• It also prescribes the price triggers for imposing stock limits.
• Under the sub-section (1A), any action on imposing stock limit shall be based on price rise and an order for regulating stock limit of any agricultural produce may be issued if there is a hundred percent increase in the retail price of horticultural produce; or fifty per cent increase in the retail price of non-perishable agricultural foodstuffs, over the price prevailing immediately preceding twelve months, or average retail price of last five years, whichever is lower.