Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Legislative Assembly Thursday unanimously passed a resolution seeking the withdrawal of all the three contentious agricultural laws enacted speedily by parliament in September.
Raising the state's concerns over the effects of long-lasting uproar in the country's farm sector, the resolution said "Kerala could not bear the impact of such a situation", particularly amid the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic. The new farm laws have sparked a furious bout of protests among farmers of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and other states that is yet to abate.
Tabling the resolution against farm laws during the special session in the House, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, "There should be a system where agricultural products are procured by the Central government and distributed to the needy at fair prices. Instead, it has allowed corporates to take over the trade in agricultural products. The Centre is shirking its responsibility of providing fair prices to farmers. If these protests continue, it will affect Kerala badly. If agriculture produce stops coming to a consumer state like Kerala, the state will be pushed towards hunger."
He said, farmers are worried about losing the current support price, which could leave them weakened bargaining power before the strength of corporate entities. "Considering all this, the Kerala Legislative Assembly is requesting the Central government to cancel these three farm laws and accept the demands by farmers."
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