The Bhartiya Kisan Union has
filed a petition in the Supreme Court asking it to scrap three agricultural
laws passed by Parliament in September. Thousands of farmers have over the past
few weeks been protesting against these laws, demanding that the government
repeal them.
The Bhartiya Kisan Union's
petition, filed by its president Bhanu Pratap Singh, claimed that the three
laws will lead to commercialisation and will throw the farmers at the mercy of
corporates. Citing the ongoing farmers' protest along the national capital's
borders, it said a “rail roko” agitation, too, would begin soon.
Calling the new laws “arbitrary”,
the petition alleges that they were passed without adequate discussion.
The Supreme Court has already
issued notices to the Central government on a batch of petitions challenging
the farm laws passed by Parliament in September. These laws were first
introduced in June as ordinances by the Central government.
The three contentious laws are:
Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020;
Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm
Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act.
Over the past many weeks fierce
protests have broken out across states such as Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar
Pradesh, by farmers who view these laws as leading the way to their
dis-empowerment, with their advantage moving to corporate bodies.
Thousands of them have sought to
march towards Delhi in protest since early last month, in the process blocking
the major roads leading to and away from the national capital.
Several political parties have
voiced their support to the protesting farmers and sought the three laws'
repeal, though the government has not budged till now.
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