Centre approves bill to repeal farm laws; will be introduced in upcoming Parliament Session

New Delhi, November 24: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared the bill to be taken up in the upcoming Parliament session to roll back the laws. This was after Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to repeal the three contentious farm laws that seemed to be non- favoring to the farmers who were protesting against it for almost a year. The bill, now approved by the Cabinet, will be introduced in the Winter Session of Parliament, beginning next week.

 

 

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur, while addressing the press conference said that the “formalities” to repeal the three laws; Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 has been completed in the first meeting of the Cabinet since PM Modi’s announcement last week.

 

 

 

The Cabinet Wednesday also approved an extension of the Prime Minister Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) scheme till March 2022. Thakur said the cabinet has decided to extend the PMGKAY for a period of four months which is from December 2021 to March 2022, under which over 80 crore people of the country are entitled to get food grains like wheat or rice free of cost every month.

 

 

 

“Since the beginning of the scheme in March 2020, crores of people have benefited from it,” Thakur said. He added, “There will be an expenditure of Rs 53,344 crore for the scheme during the next four months.” “The free food grains under the PMGKAY will be provided to beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act, 2013 and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) scheme over and above their entitlements,” Thakur said.

 

At the time of the launch of the scheme, the government’s focus was to ensure that no family remains hungry during the Covid-19 pandemic. “India is the only country in the world which has provided foodgrains to 80 crore people for months. Till now, 600 lakh metric tonne foodgrains have been allocated and 541 lakh metric tonne foodgrains have been distributed. It has been provided to people across all the states and Union Territories. There will be a total expenditure of Rs 2.60 lakh crore on this scheme, including for the extended period of four months,” Thakur said.