A Study of Political Science by First Year Students of B.A.LL.

(Hons.) in Jabalpur

Title- Understanding Interface of Law and Politics Over Recently Introduced Fram Reform Bill 2020

By- Alok Kumar Shah

Programme: B.A. LL. B (Hons.)

Subject: Political Science

Semester: I

Roll No: BAL/008/20

Supervisor

Dr. Jalaj Goantiya Sir

Assistant Professor of Political Science

DHARMASHASTRA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

Jabalpur (M.P)

January-02-2021
 AKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost, I want to thank my research supervisor, Mr Jalaj Goantiya Sir, who selflessly
helped me in completing this project. His teaching style and methodology always inspired me to
achieve the further targets. He raised many precious points in our discussion and I hope that I
have managed to address several of them here. I would also like to thank Shilpa Jian Mam under
whose guidance I am able to complete this project.

I would like to extend my gratitude to our Hon’ble Vice Chancellor Prof. Balraj Chauhan Sir for
giving me this golden opportunity to express myself.

Getting through my dissertation required more than academic support, and I have many, many
people to thank for listening to and, at times, taking a stand for me. I cannot begin to express my
gratitude and appreciation for their friendship. I must thank everyone above as well as my
beloved friends.

With Regards,

Alok Kumar Shah

 ABSTRACT

Federalism is a system of government in which the power is divided between a central

authority and various constituent units of the country. There are two or more levels of
government. Different tiers of government govern the same citizens, but each government have
power independent of the other.

The constitution originally provided for a two-tier system of Govt the union Govt or what we call
the Central Govt, representing the union of India and the state Govt. later, a third tier of
federalism was added in the form of Panchayats and Municipalities.

In this Project I will discuss about the recent introduce 3 Farms bill by the Central Government,

Ongoing protest by famers association, unions, and the Politics on this bill by various political
parties, I will also in brief discuss the law-making power of center and state government, how the
introduction of farm bills by central government impacted the relation between the state and
central government.
 Index

Contents

Introduction

Research Objectives

Research Methodology

What is Federalism

What make India a federal country

Agriculture in scheme of Legislative power

Indian Farmers Reforms bills of 2020

Impact on center-state relationship

Way Forward

Conclusion
Introduction

Indian Government, at all levels, announces Welfare Schemes for a cross section of the society
from time to time. These schemes could be either Central, State specific or a joint collaboration
between the Centre and the States. In this project we will discuss and identify the elements of
Law-Making power in Federalization in Legislative Acts of Recent farm bills. This project
article will focus on political aspect of the recent introduce three farm bills for ex- ongoing
protest, politization of this issue by opposition parties, impact on center sate relations, agriculture
in scheme of legislative power etc.

Research Objectives

1. To analyze the law-making power of governments in federal structured country

2. To analyze the impact on center-state governments relations due to recent introduce
famers bills.

Research Methodology

The research carried out by me is purely doctrinal. The Study is Purely Theoretical. The Study is
based on secondary data sources. The necessary information about the elements of recently
introduced farms bills and law-making power in federalism and its various components are
collected from Books, Journals, Internet Source, newspapers articles or related topic.
1.What is Federalism?

Federalism is a system of government in which the power is divided between a central authority
and various constituent units of the country. There are two or more levels of government.
Different tiers of government govern the same citizens, but each government have power
independent of the other.

2.What makes India a Federal Country?

1. The constitution originally provided for a two-tier system of Govt the union Govt or what
we call the Central Govt, representing the union of India and the state Govt. later, a third
tier of federalism was added in the form of Panchayats and Municipalities.

2. Constitution clearly provided a threefold distribution of legislative powers between the

union Govt and the state Govt:
§ Union List: Defence of the country, foreign affairs.
§ State List: Police, trade, commerce, agriculture.
§ Concurrent List: Education, Forest, Trade Union.
It essentially means both the Centre and states have the freedom to operate in their allotted
spheres of power, in coordination with each other.

3. Agriculture in Scheme of Legislative Power

 The founding fathers of the Indian Constitution envisaged to adopt the practice of federalism.
The seventh Schedule of the Constitution is a classic feature of the spirit of federalism.

 Article 246 adopts a threefold distribution of legislative power between the Union and
the states.
 The subject-wise distribution of this power is given in the three lists of the Seventh
Schedule of the constitution:

 List-I- the Union List

 List-II- the State List
 List-III- the Concurrent List
 Union List: Parliament has exclusive powers to make laws with respect to any of the
matters enumerated in the Union List.

 It includes the matters of national importance and the matters which require
uniformity of legislation nationwide.
 This list includes 98 subjects like defence, banking, foreign affairs, currency,
atomic energy, insurance, communication, inter-state trade and commerce,
census, audit and so on.
 State List: The state legislature has exclusive powers (not during emergency) to make
laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in the State List.

 It includes the matters of regional and local importance and the matters which
permit diversity of interest.
 This list includes 59 subjects like public order, police, public health and
sanitation, agriculture, prisons, local government, fisheries, markets, theaters,
gambling and so on.
 Concurrent List: Both, the Parliament and state legislature can make laws with
respect to any of the matters enumerated in the Concurrent List.

 It includes the matters on which uniformity of legislation throughout the

country is desirable but not essential.
 This list has at present 52 subjects like criminal law and procedure, civil
procedure, marriage and divorce, population control and family planning,
electricity, labour welfare, economic and social planning, drugs, newspapers,
books and printing press, and others.

Although there is no provision in concurrent list that who can make law on agriculture,
but Entry 33 in the concurrent list limits the power of states in agriculture and empowers
the center by stating that both the state and center can legislate regarding production,
trade, supply, and distribution of a range of foodstuffs and agricultural raw materials.
Using the same provision central government had tried to justify its authority to make law
in these spheres, the act which now has been challenged in Supreme Court. And have to
see how the Supreme Court decide on this matter.
 4. Indian Farmers Reforms Bills of 2020

Agriculture reforms which were announced by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during
the pronouncement of Atmanirbhar Bharat Package. The Bills which aim to change the way
agricultural produce is marketed, sold and stored across the country were initially issued in the
form of ordinances in June. They were then passed by voice-vote in both the Lok Sabha and the
Rajya Sabha during the delayed monsoon session this month, despite vociferous Opposition
protest. The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020,
allows farmers to sell their harvest outside the notified Agricultural Produce Market Committee

(APMC) mandis without paying any State taxes or fees. The Farmers (Empowerment and
Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, facilitates contract
farming and direct marketing. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, deregulates
the production, storage, movement and sale of several major foodstuffs, including cereals,
pulses, edible oils and onion, except in the case of extraordinary circumstances. The government
hopes the new laws will provide farmers with more choice, with competition leading to better
prices, as well as ushering in a surge of private investment in agricultural marketing, processing
and infrastructure. However, farmers are apprehensive that the free-market philosophy supported
by these bills could undermine the Minimum Support Price system and make farmers vulnerable
to market forces, although there is no concreate evidence for this the prons and cons of these acts
must be seen in the coming future.

Intended Benefits Associated with these Bills as said by Central Government

a. The Bills aim to do away with the government interference in the agriculture trade by
creating trading areas free of middlemen and gov. Taxes outside the structure of
Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs), It will allow farmers an option to sell
their produce directly to these new zones, without going through the middlemen and
paying levies such as mandi fees.
b. It sought to remove stock holding limits as well as curbs on inter-State and intra-State
trade and create a framework for Contract farming.
 c. These bills promote the creation of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPO) on a large
scale and will help in creating a farmer-friendly environment for contract farming where
small players can benefit.
d. These bills may enable private players to invest in warehousing, grading and other
marketing infrastructure.
e. Essence of these bills to create ‘One Nation, One Market’ for agriculture produce.

Issues Raised by The Farmers & Opposition

a. Creation of private mandis along with the state-run Agriculture Produce Market
Committees (APMC) will push all agriculture businesses towards private markets. The
result will be the end of government markets and intermediary (commission agent)
systems as well as APMC systems. After that only big traders and giant companies will
operate in the markets and procure farm produce at incidental prices. These eventually
leads to dismantle the system of MSP.
b. Farmers are apprehensive about grabbing the farmers’ land by the large corporations
under the contract farming, there is also fear about the fair price of their produce. The
farmers which are mainly uneducated are unable to understand the provisions of the
agreements under the contract, which eventually lead to entangled them in the debt trap.
And in the case farmers have lack of resources for a legal battle with private corporate
entities.
c. The Price Assurance Bill, while offering protection to farmers against price exploitation,
does not prescribe the mechanism for price fixation. There is apprehension that the free
hand given to private corporate houses could lead to farmer exploitation.
d. The introduced bills are directly infringing rights of state governments which is against
the fundamental principle of our federal constitution.
5.Impact on Center-State Relationship

The constitution of India is unique with respect to its extreme detail and substance. The
uniqueness of the Indian constitution is also in the fact that it is a federal in character, where
Indian constitution establishes a dual polity with the jurisdiction of making laws on different
subject matters is divided union and the state governments, which was enshrined in seventh
schedule of Indian constitution. One of the distinguished features of Indian constitution is that
the residual powers lie in the hands of the central government, making states vulnerable to be
dictate by the states, though this feature is unique in its sense. Central government had always
used this power to imposed its will on the state governments.

Post-independence we have seen several instances where central governments had tried to
restrict the power of state governments.

Either using the state governor as a tool or making law on the list which are more titled towards
the state governments. Either the UPA or NDA governments both had misused the provisions for
fulfilling their own political agenda.

In the recent past we had seen several legislations which either directly or indirectly infringes on
the rights of the state governments, we can take some examples were both the center and states
are in the front of each other. In July 2019 center has amended the National investigation agency
act 2008, which give the agency autonomy to investigate in certain types of offences as
mentioned in the act without the permission of the state government.

The contentious issue was that police is in the state list and the state is already with power to
investigate offences mentioned in the act, passing this amendment center expanded its
jurisdiction and can misuse it for their own political gain. The same was the issues regarding the
power of Central bureau of Investigation, Enforcement directorate were the political parties who
are in the power use them as a tool to take political revenge.
The recently passed farm laws have seen a bitter political divide leading to the resignation of a
Union Minister (Harsimrat Kaur Badal) and protests in large parts of the country. Various state
government had passed resolution to urge center to withdraw the new farm legislations, on the
other hand several of the state governments had passed the law in their respective state
assemblies by passing centers farm laws examples was Rajasthan, Punjab. It is now 35 days
since farmer are protesting near the Sindhu border and NCR region, despite having several
rounds of talk between center and farmer unions they still not reached to a conclusion. Not only
the Indian government is being criticized by the various groups in India but also the farmer
protest has gained a lot of international attention. Either it be the statement given by Canadian
Prime Minister or issue being discussed in British parliament, it highlights the negative aspect of
Indian government unwilling to indulge in talk with the famer unions. Recent protest is not a
good sign for our democracy also, Government of India should accept the voice of the farmers
and ensure that the process of government purchase will not be impacted by these legislations.
Way Forward

a. Improve Agricultural Infrastructure to Strengthen Competition: Government should

massively fund the expansion of the APMC market system, make efforts to remove trade
cartels, and provide farmers good roads, logistics of scale and real time information.
b. Qualitative Improving Mandi Infrastructure: There is a need for not just more mandis,
but also better mandis incurred with the modern technologies. Government should
connect more and more with the e-NAM.
c. Improving Economies of Scale: The bargaining power of Indian Farmer’s vis-a-vis
corporates will change only if economies of scale rise substantially at the farm-level in
order to achieve this, there is a need to strengthen structural function of Farmer Producer
Organizations by providing them more power and autonomy.
d. Lack of Consultation: First the ordinance route and now the hastily attempt to pass the
Bills without proper consultation adds to the mistrust among various stakeholders
including farmers. The Centre should reach out to those opposing the Bills, including
farmers, explain to them the need for reform, and get them on board.
Conclusion

India traditionally is an agricultural economy were farmers have the central role. India as a
Socialist state has always tried to integrate the marganilsed section with main stream economy,
were since Independence every government has tried to benefits the farmers with the subsidies,
various schemes and the policies. The Indian farmer is instrumental not only feeding the world's
largest democracy but also plays an important role in Indian economy by the way of exports of
their produce. The Empowerment and Protection Act must be checked so as to ensure that the
corporate should not be given free hand to exploit the farmers. History is witness to the way
corporations have treated the agriculturalists. We saw the East India Company forcing the Indian
farmers to grow indigo instead of food crops, in a bid to fulfill its own corporate greed that
eventually leads to havoc in the lives of such farmers. The features of the Facilitation and
Promotion Act do not seem to eco with the idea of Indian federalism, it seems to appear that
Center has transgress its legislative power by incurring in states affairs. It must to be noted that
the way the laws were passed, by utterly disregarding the parliamentary procedure and the timing
when these acts were passed during the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, which leads
apprehension to the intention behind the introduction of the acts by the government. The Centre
should reach out to those opposing the Bills, including farmers, explain to them the need for
reform, and get them on board. The bills which are now Act were challenged in the Supreme
Court of India, it remains to be seen whether they will pass the level of constitutionality.
 References

The sources referred while carrying out the research were:

1. Social Science Notes on Federalization Retrieved From
https:///Schools.Aglasem.com/social-science-federalisation.
2. https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/farm-bills-indian-farm-reforms-2020-
1606901455-1
3. News editorial analysis and edited from https://www.drishtiias.com/current-affairs-news-
analysis-editorials/news-editorials
4. Explained by Indian Express https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/government-
farmer-talks-deadlock-explained-7106698/
5. Explainer – The Hindu https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/explainer-why-are-the-
agriculture-bills-being-opposed/article32618641.ece
6. Explainer- NIA Act and Federalism https://scroll.in/article/950225/explainer-why-
chhattisgarh-has-challenged-the-legality-of-the-national-investigation-agency-act