P. Sainath is the founder editor of the People’s Archive of Rural India and former rural affairs editor of The Hindu. Following are remarks of P Sainath on Farm bills 2020:
On APMC Committees: P Sainath compares Agriculture Product Marketing Committees (APMC) role in agriculture similar to that of government schools in education. He says “though APMC have their own set of drawbacks & shortcomings and alike government schools suffer from poor infrastructure & provide less quality service, these are the bed-rock for millions. Like government schools are the only choice for millions of kids, similar is the case of APMC for farmers.”
Suggestion on Farms bills 2020:
On question of what is to be included, P Sainath provides 4 point suggestions on Farm Bills 2020:
- The Minimum Selling Price (MSP) as calculated based on Swaminathan Committee.
- No transaction between any party (farmer & trader, company, government etc) is allowed below MSP.
- Procurement guaranteed by government.
- Cancel farmer debts, without cancelling farmer debts, farmer income cannot be doubled.
