A committee of Chief Ministers on the transformation of Indian agriculture may recommend a 50% cap on increase in prices in cases where the Essential Commodities Act is applied.
The panel, led by Maharastra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, has agreed that the Act be applied only in rare cases such as famine and war, and may be imposed only in cases where commodity prices rise by over 50% of market rates.
The NITI Aayog-constituted High Power Committee (HPC) of Chief Ministers for Transformation of Indian Agriculture held its second meeting in Mumbai on Friday. Its suggestions are in favour of the long-pending demand of putting in abeyance certain provisions of the Act to facilitate reforms in agricultural market and attracting private investment in the sector. “The broad consensus of the panel so far has been to not repeal the Act (The Essential Commodities Act) fully; instead, put in abeyance certain provisions that do not improve market conditions for farmers. States have also reacted positively to a Niti Aayog proposal suggesting imposition of the Act only in cases where the price rise is over 50%,” Mr. Fadnavis said after the meeting.
The meeting was attended by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar; Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani; Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath; Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal; Uttar Pradesh Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi; and Odisha Agriculture Minister Dr. Arun Kumar Sahoo. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar joined the meeting via video conferencing.
The committee discussed various recommendations for the APMC (Agricultural Produce Market Committee) Act, Contract Farming Act and genetically modified (GM) crops. Measures to boost agricultural exports, financing of the value chain and upgrading agricultural technologies were the other points that came up for discussion, officials said.
The panel also discussed the floods and unusual rain patterns in south central India, resulting in crop losses running into crores of rupees due to floods in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Kerala. “The kharif sowing has been down by 30%, and the floods have caused widespread destruction. We have discussed the climate change situation in the meeting,” Mr. Tomar said. The committee also discussed the use of GM crops in select areas and a long-term policy on this. Maharashtra has already constituted a committee on the feasibility of GM crops. “The country is still debating the use of GM crops. We are trying to build a brand consensus on that as well,” Mr. Fadnavis said.
In the next 15 days, Principal Secretaries of the agriculture departments from all States and NITI Aayog officials would meet to prepare a draft report on it.
