Farm laws

The Supreme Court on Mon...

The bench of Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, Justices A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian said it would hear on Monday all the pleas challenging the new farm laws as also the ones raising issues related to the ongoing farmers protest.

In his petition, ML Sharma had alleged that the 1954 Amendment Act of the Constitution, which had included Agriculture in the Concurrent List of the Constitution, was passed in an improper manner.

The authors of the letter posit five fundamental reasons why these three Acts, tied together by the government, are deeply detrimental in their repercussion on the small farmers of India. I reproduce below excerpts of these arguments:

PM Narendra Modi attende...

The Supreme Court on Thursday said the farmers protesting outside Delhi have every right to protest but they can't hold the capital hostage.

When the farmers, many from the Punjab were met with tear gas, water canons and lathi sticks, it was reminiscent of what happened in the USA to some Black Lives Matter demonstrators.

The Court said it’s a matter of national importance as such issue needs to be resolved through negotiations. The Court said there will be a need to form a committee including Bharatiya Kisan Union, farmers organisations from across India and government representatives to negotiate a solution.

The applicant has submitted that though he had sent a representation to the Union, however neither any reply has been served nor any effective step or action has been taken over the farmers agitation till date.

The Centre has been reiterating that the new laws are meant at reforms and have been passed after consultation with all stakeholders. However, farmers say they were taken into confidence when the laws were passed by the Parliament.