New Delhi, India (CU)_ Supreme court of India has temporarily suspended the three agricultural laws until further notice. The government had strongly ruled out repealing the laws after eight rounds of discussions with farmers’ unions over the past month, but had stated that amendments will be made. Hence, the three farm laws that are at heart of the massive farmers’ protest near Delhi will not come into action now. It was also stated that the discussions with protesting farmers will be handled by a committee of agricultural experts to end the protest and the court called it “victory of fair play”.
The Chief Justice SA Bobde stated, “We are staying three farm laws until further orders. While we may not stifle a peaceful protest, we think that this extraordinary order of stay of implementation of the farm laws will be perceived as an achievement of the purpose of such protest at least for the present and will encourage the farmers bodies to convince their members to get back to their livelihood, both in order to protect their own lives and health and in order to protect the lives and properties of others.”
The government had informed the court that the farm laws were the outcome of two decades of considerations and were not hurriedly made. The Supreme Court, acknowledging that “no solution was in sight” said it was trying to address the issue in the best way.
The Chief Justice revealed the challenges faced by both the people and the government with regards to the farm laws. He assured that a common solution will be found soon. He stated, “These are matters of life and death. We are concerned with laws. We are concerned with lives and property of people affected by the agitation. We are trying to solve the problem in the best way. One of the powers we have is to suspend the legislation. We want to solve the problem and that’s why we are making the committee”.
The Supreme Court also revealed the names of the committee members who will handle the discussions with the farmers. The committee includes agricultural economist Ashok Gulati; Anil Ghanwat – president of Shetkari Sanghatana; Bhupinder Singh Mann – former Rajya Sabha; and Pramod Joshi – International Food Policy Research Institute. All four members are known to support the new agricultural laws.
The Supreme Court said it was extremely disappointed by the government’s way of handling the problems. The Chief Justice said, “Each one of us we will responsible if anything goes wrong. We don’t want any injuries or blood on our hands. Who is going to be responsible for bloodshed if any?” The court stated, “the Minimum Support Price System in existence before the enactment of the Farm Laws shall be maintained until further orders. In addition, the farmers’ land holdings shall be protected, i.e., no farmer shall be dispossessed or deprived of his title as a result of any action taken under the Farm Laws.”
The farmers, who have been protesting on highways outside Delhi since late November, have repeatedly stated that they will not accept anything other than the government repealing the laws that they think will deprive them of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and leave them at the mercy of corporates.
However, Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the umbrella group representing farmers’ unions, has repeatedly claimed that it would not engage in any mediation appointed by the court and also emphasized this point after the new order was issued. Farmers’ leader Balbir Singh Rajewal while addressing a conference said that all the committee members are in favour of the government. He said, “This is the mischief of the government that they want to relieve pressure from their shoulders so they have asked for this Supreme Court committee, to which we are opposed”.
