Karnataka: Congress Govt Announces Repeal Of BJP's APMC Act That Dismantled Mandi Monopoly And Allowed Farmers To Sell Produce Directly To End Market

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led Congress government announced on Thursday (June 15) that it would repeal the amendments to the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMC) Act effected by the previous BJP government.

"We had said that we will change the APMC Act, the Cabinet has approved the new bill. It will be introduced in the upcoming Assembly session," Agricultural Marketing Minister Shivanand Patil told the media after the cabinet meeting.

In May 2020, the then BJP government led by chief minister B.S.Yediyurappa introduced an ordinance amending the APMC Act to remove restrictions on where the farmer would be able to sell his product to ensure better prices by eliminating the middlemen.

Officially called the Karnataka Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation and Development) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, it amended the provisions of the Karnataka Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation and Development) Act, 1966.

The amendments were passed by the Assembly in September 2020 and then by the Legislative Council in December 2020.

The amendments enabled a radical recasting of the APMC system by removing all restrictions on the sale of agricultural produce, thereby allowing private individuals to set up trade markets where farmers could sell.

The amendments curtailed the powers of local APMC and allowed private individuals to start agricultural trading - buying and selling - if they held a permanent account number (PAN). Before that, farmers were forced to sell only in notified markets or mandis.

The amendment also aimed to end the harassment of farmers and traders by traffic police and vigilance department officials. Before the amendments, farmers had to pay a hefty fine if they sold outside the 'notified' Mandis.

Agriculture marketing in most states was regulated by the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs) established by state governments under their respective agricultural produce marketing laws.

Even though the Union government repealed all three farms in December 2021 after widespread protests from farmers in Punjab, the BJP government in Karnataka refused to roll back the amendments.

New Bill To Be Introduced

The Congress government said a new APMC Bill will be introduced in the budget session starting July 3.

"We had said that we will change the APMC Act, the Cabinet has approved the new bill. It will be introduced in the upcoming Assembly session," Shivanand Patil said

During the media briefing, Shivanand Patil claimed that the amendments introduced by BJP led to state-owned APMCs incurring huge losses.

"Cumulatively, the APMC markets used to earn a revenue of around Rs 680 crore, which has nosedived to around Rs 200 crore. We need to arrest this fall and need to increase revenue of the markets, so bringing in new law is necessary," he added.