BREAKING : Farm Laws Will Be Repealed In Upcoming Parliament Session, Says Prime Minister

In a big announcement, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday morning that the Central Government will take steps to repeal the three contentious farm laws.

"We have decided to repeal three farm laws. We will finish the constitutional process to repeal the law in upcoming Parliament session", Prime Minister Modi said in a special address to the nation on the day of Guru Nanak Jayanti.

The Prime Minister said that though the laws were enacted for the benefit of farmers, the Government could not convince them, and a section was opposing the laws.

"We tried our best to explain to farmers. We were even ready to modify the laws, suspend them too. The matter reached the Supreme Court as well. We haven't been able to explain to our farmers. This is not a time to blame anyone. I want to tell you that we have taken the farm laws back. We are repealing the farm laws", the Prime Minister said.

The three contentious farm laws -Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; (2) Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020; and (3)Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 - enacted by the Parliament in September 2020, have been stoutly opposed by several farmers organizations. Several farmers groups across the nation have been holding widespread protests and agitations for over a year since the passing of these laws demanding that they be scrapped.

In January 2021, the Supreme Court had stayed the implementation of these laws until further orders, to facilitate a process of negotiation between the Centre and the protesting groups. The Supreme Court had also constituted a committee to hold the talks. However, the leaders of the farmers unions boycotted the committee.

The main grievance raised by the farmers is that the laws will result in the dismantling of the state-run Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees, and will disrupt the Minimum Support Price mechanism. The protesting farmers fear that the laws will pave the way for corporate exploitation. A batch of petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the validity of these farm laws and also questioning the competence of the Parliament in enacting the same.

The recent Lakhmipur Kheri violence incident, which took place on Uttar Pradesh, happened when vehicles in the convoy of Ashish Mishra, the son of Union Minister and BJP MP Ajay Mishra, allegedly rammed into a group of farmers who were holding a dharna against the laws.

According to a news report of October 2021, nearly 600 persons have lost lives during the year long protests. The protesters had organized a tractor parade in Delhi on the Republic Day as part of the protests, which led to violent events in the national capital and the Red For.