India’s New Agricultural Bills — An Assessment

On September 27, 2020, the President of India gave his assent to the three farm bills, namely, the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 (FPTC), the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 (FAPAFS), and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020.

The agricultural bills aim at removing market limitations and barriers and intermediaries apart from promoting the participation of the corporate sector in procurement and storage of agricultural produce to ensure better price discovery and price recovery to make the farming occupation more remunerative. This is in chime with the Indian government’s commitment to double farmers’ income by 2022.