The Lok Sabha on Thursday, September 17, through a voice vote passed the contentious Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020.
The same bills were passed on Sunday, September 20, by Rajya Sabha with a voice vote amid unprecedented unruly scenes by protesting Opposition members who demanded that the proposed legislation be referred to a House panel for greater scrutiny.
Eight Opposition Rajya Sabha MPs were suspended on September 21 for the remainder of the Monsoon session for 'unruly behaviour'.
While the government deems the passage of the bills as the biggest reform in agriculture, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi terms the planned legislation as 'death warrants'.
Uttam Ghosh asks if the hasty manner in which the farm bills were passed means another strike against democracy in a nation which prides itself as the most populous democracy in the world.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
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