Punjab Vidhan Sabha must not bypass or ignore the discussion on the agri ordinances.

Media reports suggest that Punjab Cabinet has proposed one day Punjab Legislative Assembly session on August 28.

It may be recalled that the 11th session of the 15th Punjab Vidhan Sabha was concluded on March 4, 2020 therefore as per the statutory requirements the 12th Session of 15th Punjab Vidhan Sabha has to be summoned before the 4th of September, 2020 as mandated by the constitution of India.

In view of the farmers unrest in Punjab and albeit the Covid-19 restrictions and its adverse implications, the proposed session of the Punjab Assembly must discuss the Centre’s three Agri Ordinances, promulgated on 5th June 2020, impinging upon the fundamental structure of the existing marketing paradigm of the agriculture produce and other facets related to farming community.

The agenda for the 11th session of the Punjab Assembly must include discussion on the following anti farmer’s ordinances:

1. The farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Ordinance 2020.

2. The Farmers (Empowerment & Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Service Ordinance 2020

3. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020

It is pertinent to mention here that besides Covid pandemic panic, the unwelcomed frenzied hurry with which the anti-farmers ordinances were promulgated in an intrusive manner by the President of India, has caused widespread economic panic among the farming community of Punjab, which is why all the farmers organizations in the State are agitating against these Corporate-Sponsored Ordinances.

It is also relevant to mention here that the sudden and untimely promulgation of Agri Ordinances is the single most important development that has occurred in the intervening period, since the last sitting of the Punjab Assembly on March 4, 2020, which has significantly caused widespread perturbation and sense of apprehensiveness among the farmers of the State.

Therefore The Punjab Legislative Assembly being the only constitutional forum, elected by the people of Punjab, is bound by obligation to discuss the catastrophic implications of the above noted Ordinances. It certainly cannot afford to bypass or ignore the discussion on the Agri Ordinances by any imagination under presupposed notions.

It is all the more apparently a litmus test for all the political parties represented in Punjab Assembly to prove their loyalty to the cause of the farmers and the parties having deceitful double standards on Agri Ordinances would also get exposed on the floor of the house.

The comprehensive discussion on record will clear all the ambiguities of the nuance and shade of meanings in the explicit expressions of all the parties.

So in view of the inevitability of catastrophic consequence of the Agri Ordinances, I would earnestly appeal the Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh as Agriculture Minister of Punjab and also as leader of the House, to bring a Substantive Motion under rule 71 of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the ensuing assembly session for the outright rejection of all the three Agri Ordinances in lock, stock, and barrel in the coming session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

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