Supreme Court-appointed committee submits report on farm laws

The Supreme Court-appointed committee has submitted its report on farm laws. The three-member committee was formed by the top court on January 11, 2021 when it placed the three farm laws on hold.

The committee comprised of three agricultural economists-Ashok Gulati, Pramod Joshi and Anil Ghanvat. Bharatiya Kisan Union President Bhupinder Singh Mann was initially a part of the investigation but resigned later. 

The committee was formed to study the farm laws in detail and talk to all the concerned stakeholders to help end the deadlock between the centre and the farmer unions. 

Key Highlights

•The committee submitted its report in a sealed cover on March 19, 2021. The committee stated that around 85 farmer organisations were spoken before filing the report. 

•The committee submitted its report after meeting with the farmer organisations to find a solution to the matter.

•This was confirmed by one of the committee members Anil Ghanvat. However, he did not reveal any other details about the report, saying that it is a confidential process.

Background

•The top court had formed the committee after repeated rounds of talks between the centre and the farmers failed to reach an effective solution. Chief Justice SA Bobde had said that they are making the committee because there was no solution in sight. 

•The Chief Justice had also put the farm laws on hold in a huge blow to the government, saying that the court was extremely disappointed" by the government's handling of the crisis.

•The court had then suggested names of noted agricultural economists-Ashok Gulati, Anil Ghanwat, Pramod Joshi and Bhupinder Singh Mann for the committee. 

•Bhupinder Singh Mann, former Rajya Sabha Member, who is also the national president the Bhartiya Kisan Union, stepped down from the committee, saying he did not wish to "compromise farmers' interests".

The farmers' groups had rejected the committee, saying that all the members were already in favour of farm laws and accused the government of engineering the issue.