President Ram Nath Kovind gives assent to Bill scrapping three farm laws

New Delhi, Dec 01: President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday gave his assent to the Bill cancelling the three farm laws. The parliament on Monday had approved the repeal of the three controversial farm laws in rushed voice votes in both Houses on the first day of the winter session.

Though the repeal bill was passed by voice vote within minutes of its introduction in both the Houses, opposition members continued their protest demanding a discussion on farmers' issues, including legal sanctity to Minimum Support Price(MSP) of crops and compensation to families of farmers who died during the year-long agitation.

On November 19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the nation had announced the withdrawal of the three farm laws, saying the government could not convince protesting farmers about the benefits of the agriculture sector reforms. He had also urged them to end the protest and return home.

The Cabinet has approved the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021 to rollback the three laws passed by Parliament in September last year, with an objective to bring reforms in the agriculture sector, especially marketing of farm produce.

The three laws to be repealed are: Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act.

The Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021 has been approved days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement to repeal the three central farm laws. Besides this, Parliament is scheduled to take 25 other bills, including one on crypto currencies.

The repeal of the three farm legislations has been one of the key demands of around 40 farmer unions protesting against these reforms for nearly a year now.

These laws, which are under suspension following a Supreme Court order in January this year, had triggered widespread protests by thousands of farmers mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh at Delhi borders.

The protest started at the fag-end of November 2020, and is still continuing.