Democracy should always be a numbers game. Popular support should always be given preference. But what if the popular opinion is silent and the unpopular opinion vocal? This is exactly what seems to have happened with the farm laws.
The three farm laws enacted by the Parliament in 2020 were scrapped last year, following farmer protests that continued for about a year. The premise behind the withdrawal of the three farm laws was that farmers were not in their support. But is it so? Let’s find out.
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Supreme Court-appointed committee had recommended against the withdrawal of farm laws
Interestingly, a committee appointed by the apex court in connection with the farm law protests had recommended against the withdrawal of farm laws.
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The Supreme Court-appointed committee had opined that a “majority” farm unions supported the farm laws and “a repeal or a long suspension” would be “unfair to this silent majority”.
The committee’s 92-page report was made public by Anil Ghanwat, one of its three members, on Monday at a press conference in the National Capital. The other two members- Ashok Gulati and Dr Pramod Kumar Joshi were not present when the report was made public.
How many farmers supported the farm laws?
Based on the feedback received by the committee, the report stated, “The bilateral interactions of the committee with the stakeholders demonstrated that only 13.3 per cent of the stakeholders were not in favour of the three farm laws. Around 85.7 per cent of the farmer organisations representing around 3.3-crore farmers supported the laws.”
It added, “The feedback received by the committee through its online portal established that one-third of the respondents did not support the farm laws and around two-thirds were in their favour. The feedback received through e-mails also shows that a majority supported the farm laws. Given this feedback, the committee recommends that a repeal or a long suspension would, therefore, be unfair to these ‘silent’ supporters.”
Was the numbers game in favour of the farm laws?
The committee report also stated that it had extended an invitation to 266 farmer organisations, including those which had organised protests against the three farm laws.
However, the protesting farm organisations did not meet the committee. Out of the 266 organisations, the committee “interacted directly” with 73 organisations representing 3.83 crore farmers. According to official estimates, there are 9 to 15 crore farmers in the country and therefore the committee reached out to a substantially large population.
Out of the 73 organisations, 61 farmer organisations representing 3.3 crore farmers (85.7 per cent) “fully supported” the three farm laws.
The committee had also invited comments on a detailed questionnaire on the three farm laws on its portal. It received 19,027 responses on the questionnaire.
Besides, the committee had also made some progressive suggestions including “revisiting” the MSP policy and discontinuation of open-ended procurement, diversification from paddy to more sustainable high-value crops, especially in Punjab and Haryana.
The committee believed that instead of blanket procurement of wheat and paddy, the FCI should put a capping. Such a measure would make room for crop diversification in the country.
A vast majority of farmers was thus in total support of the three farm laws. They did believe that the reformist legislation would have put them on the path to prosperity. However, it seems that majority opinion wasn’t taken in this case, as the government rolled back the three farm laws. Protests by some organisations thus superseded the interests of 3.3 crore farmers.
