Jharkhand State Council of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has come out in support of the three farm laws, welcoming the Union government’s decision to push for agri marketing reforms.

"The reforms are aimed towards moving to a ‘One Nation, One Market’ regime. The reforms were announced under the economic package for building Atmanirbhar Bharat and the quick action in terms of approval by the Union cabinet is commendable," Sanjay Sabherwal, chairman, CII Jharkhand, said here on Thursday.

He pointed out that the Farming Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 alters the agriculture marketing landscape in the country in several positive ways. "It provides dual benefits to the farmers by providing more avenues to sell their produce at better prices and also reducing their transportation costs significantly," he explained.

Sanjay Sabherwal, chairman of Jharkhand State Council of CII. Telegraph Picture

Elaborating further Sabherwal said while competition will bring in transparent price discovery, the Act also provides for developing a price information and market intelligence mechanism for farmers’ produce and a framework for dissemination of that information.

On the future of Minimum Support Price (MSP), he said, “What needs to be understood is that MSP is not a function of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act or the Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (APLM) Act. Mandis only provide the physical infrastructure for facilitating the procurement operations and they will continue to do so for farmers that come to the APMC market.

“While the farmers in Punjab and Haryana are largely dependent on the MSP regime it needs to be understood the reform does not intend to demolish the MSP system but provide the right perspective of markets.”

Referring to the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 he said it provides a national framework on farming agreements. "The Act will help industry in terms of reducing uncertainty in the availability of farm produce while farmers will be benefited with assured prices as well as inputs and agronomic support," he said.

Members of a Sikh outfit on a sit-in against the new farm laws at Sakchi Gurudwara Maidan in Jamshedpur on Wednesday. Pic by Bhola Prasad

The CII Jharkhand chairman also welcomed The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020. "With the amendment in place, commodities like cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onion and potatoes are removed from the list of essential commodities. The freedom to produce, hold, move, distribute and supply is expected to harness economies of scale and attract private sector/foreign direct investment into the agriculture sector.”

On Wednesday, Tata Steel MD T. V. Narendran, who is also the president designate of CII, welcomed the reform measures in agriculture but noted how the agitation was creating supply-chain disruptions.

"The ongoing agitation is leading to a disruption in the movement of goods and labour that also increases the logistics costs. These disruptions can have an impact on the green shoots of recovery we were starting to see since Covid,” he had said in a statement.