India Farm Laws: Supreme Court-appointed committee submits report

• The SC panel, in its report, said that around 85 farmer organisations have been consulted in the case

• The report has been submitted in the Supreme Court in a sealed cover envelope, agricultural economist Anil Ghanvat has said

The Supreme Court-appointed three-member committee, on the three newly-enacted farm laws, has submitted its report to the top court in a sealed cover.

The SC panel, in its report, said that around 85 farmer organisations have been consulted in the case. The committee has submitted its report after meeting with the farmer organisations to find a solution to the matter.

"The report has been submitted in the Supreme Court in a sealed cover envelope on March 19," agricultural economist Anil Ghanvat, one of the members of the SC-appointed committee, has confirmed.

However, he refused to divulge any other details, saying it is a "confidential process" and that the matter is sub judice.

The committee had also sought comments, views, and suggestions of the public through a public notice published in major newspapers.

The three-member committee was formed by the SC on 11 January when it placed the farm laws on hold.

The top court committee comprised of agricultural economists -- Anil Ghanvat, Ashok Gulati, and Pramod Joshi. Bhupinder Singh Mann, president, Bharatiya Kisan Union, and All India Kisan Coordination Committee was also initially part of the committee but resigned later.

The SC-appointed committee was formed to study the laws in detail and talk to all the stakeholders.

'Agriculture sector is in need of urgent reform'

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the agriculture sector is in need of urgent reform and modernisation and the government has initiated reforms that would free the small farmers from the pressure of middlemen.

The Narendra Modi-led NDA government has set a target of doubling farmers' income by 2022.

Hundreds of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, are camping near the borders of the national capital demanding that the government repeal the three contentious farm laws.

Enacted in September last year, the three farm laws have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in India.

The protesting farmers, on the other hand, have expressed apprehensions that the new agricultural laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of the minimum support price and do away with the mandi (wholesale market) system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.

Farmers continue to protest since 26 November last year against the three farm laws -- Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.