Indian Prime Minister moves to repeal the controversial farm laws

• The Indian government today announced that the three farm laws are being repealed.
• Farmer leaders cheer the decision, calling it a victory, but also add that the demand to make the minimum support price enshrined in law is still pending.
• Modi’s decision comes ahead of the elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, where the anger against the two laws have been the most intense.
• Check out the latest news and updates on Business Insider.

The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today announced that the government will take steps to repeal the three controversial farm laws it had brought in last year, following protests ⁠— that has lasted over 300 days straight now ⁠— in and around the nation’s capital, in which more than 600 farmers have died so far.

The three laws are:

1. Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020
2. Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020
3. Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020.

The decision comes ahead of the upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, the two states where the anger against these laws has been the most intense. The protests that followed have even turned violent. “There may have been some shortfall in our penance that we could not convince some of our farmer brothers,” Modi said in a special televised address on November 19 where he urged the farmers to call off the agitation.

“To make MSP (minimum support price) more effective and transparent, A committee will be constituted to take decisions on all such matters keeping in view the future. In this committee, there will be representatives of the central government, state governments, farmers, agricultural scientists, agricultural economists,” Modi added.

Since the laws have been approved by the country’s Parliament, repealing them will also have to go through a constitutional process.

The Narendra Modi-led government had billed these three farm laws as the reforms that the agriculture sector needed. The announcement comes on the occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti, the first Sikh guru.

“It’s a historic victory...I do not think the demands of the farmers have been fully met. The other demand of the farmers has been that the minimum support price should be fully enshrined in law, but Prime Minister has not said anything about that yet,” Yogendra Yadav, from a political outfit called Swaraj India ⁠— who has been one of the leading voices from the side of the protesting farmers ⁠— told a television channel soon after this announcement.

The protests against the laws were triggered by the fear that these laws would go on to end the regulated marketplaces called Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) and the minimum support price (MSP). Hundreds of farmers from Punjab parked themselves at the Singhu border outside the national capital, Delhi, and have been there since then, demanding that these laws be repealed.

“All farmer unions will sit together and decide the future course of action,” Joginder Singh Ugrahan, one of the leaders of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, told news agency PTI after Modi’s address.

This story is developing..