Prime Minister Narender Modi has taken a rather unprecedented and a bold step by announcing repealing of the three Agricultural laws enacted by the Parliament on account of agitation by sections of farmers, especially from Punjab and Western Uttar Pradesh. This should bring an end to the ugly confrontation between farmers and the government and no excuse should be entertained for the continued lawlessness created by groups of farmers in some parts of UP and Punjab. The move has been generally welcomed even though every politician and stakeholder is trying to score a brownie point. Significantly, Prime Minister made the announcement on the Gurpurab day, the birth anniversary of Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak Dev’s birthday. Of course it goes without saying that the decision must have also been prompted by the challenge of facing elections in states like Punjab and UP early next year.
The Prime Minister has not conceded any of the arguments of agitating farmers about the farm laws. These were enacted by the Parliament with full inputs of research over the years and demands to reform the Agricultural Sector. India as the fastest growing economy of the world has to rapidly transform itself. Agriculture being the mainstay of the majority of the people and primary sector of economy should not remain untouched. However, as it always happens, the change is always resisted by the elements who are well entrenched in the system and who would stand to lose out on their comfort zones. The same happened with the farm laws and as Modi said, more transparency will have to be introduced in dealing with Minimum Support Price and other issues in the future. The process of consultations has to be expedited and no amount of background work will satisfy the farmers’ lobbies as the public memory is short. However, in democracy the leaders must listen to public opinion and that is what the government has done.