The direct fall-out of not implementing farm legal guidelines: Punjab Farmers say Arhtiyas asking for signed clean cheques for serving to in crop procurement

Farmers in Punjab have alleged that Arhtiyas or the fee brokers at the moment are demanding “signed blank cheques” for facilitating procurement, a report printed within the Indian Express stated.
A farmer named Nihal Singh from Bathinda’s Baluana village was stunned when he was requested to supply a signed clean cheque from his Arhtiya. Singh alleged he was requested to furnish the cheque to the Arhtiyas in opposition to fee of a mortgage of Rs 2 lakhs taken two years in the past.
Though the farmer had been diligently paying periodic instalments to the arhtiya for the previous 4 cropping season and has, to this point, paid an quantity equal to the principal, he was nonetheless requested to submit a clean cheque citing the excellent curiosity quantity of Rs 1 lakh. This demand meant that Nihal needed to push harvesting his crop until deciding whether or not to supply the signed cheque or not.
“I promised him that I will soon clear his entire debt, but he is not willing to trust me and asked me to give a signed blank cheque as a guarantee against the outstanding amount. He says if I don’t give him the blank cheque, he won’t auction my produce in the mandi. But, I am yet to take a final decision on it,” Singh lamented.
Nihal is the not just one who’s affected by this predicament. Farmers throughout the state, be it Jalandhar, Khanna, Faridkot, Sangrur or Mansa, have identified that related calls for are being made from them by their arhtiyas.
Another farmer, Jagtar Singh of village Ganga Nathana is going through an analogous disaster. After having harvested his crop on 7 acres of land, his arhtiya knowledgeable him that his crops would solely get auctioned when he furnishes a signed clean cheque. Jagtar had borrowed Rs 3 lakh from his arhtiyas for the wedding of his daughter 4 years again and has been paying cash in instalments on the time of procurement.
Similarly, different farmers in Punjab even have related tales to inform. They declare that their arhtiyas too have requested them to supply signed clean cheques earlier than bringing their crops to the mandi.
Jagsir Singh, farmer chief of BKU(Ugrahan) from Bathinda, acknowledged the brand new growth, stating that a number of farmer leaders have knowledgeable him that their arhtiyas are asking for signed clean cheques from them. Besides cheques, they’re requested to furnish their Aadhaar playing cards in some instances.
Jagsir stated they’ve briefly stopped arhtiyas from doing so and requested them to attend until the time their senior leaders take a choice on the difficulty. The arhtiyas, he added, are nervous that farmers gained’t pay them their pay a refund after getting direct fee from the federal government.
An arhtiya from Khanna Mandi stated the signed clean cheques are sought from farmers as safety. He stated each arhtiyas and farmers know that in each procurement season solely a pre-decided quantity will get deducted.
Defending the transfer by arhtiyas, Ravinder Singh Cheema, the president of the Arhtiya Association Punjab, stated that arhtiyas pay farmers at any time when they want cash, after which the farmers pay arhtiyas again throughout procurement season, including that solely this cycle was being adopted.
Farmers in Punjab are used to taking high-interest loans from arhtiyas who public sale their produce within the mandis. They pay their mortgage quantity again in instalments within the type of deduction in fee for procurement. The Direct Benefit Transfer has created an imbalance within the non-banking mortgage system in Punjab. The arhtiyas are apprehensive that the farmers would cease paying their dues as soon as they begin receiving quantity straight of their financial institution accounts by the federal government. To shield themselves from mortgage default, they’ve began asking for signed clean cheques from the farmers.
A direct fall out of Punjab not implementing the farm legal guidelines
One of the most important components plaguing the expansion of agriculture sector within the nation is the lack of the farmer to discover a market and to get a good worth to his produce. To tackle the difficulty, the erstwhile governments of various states enacted the Agricultural Produce Market Regulation Acts (APMC Acts), which authorised them to arrange and regulate advertising and marketing practices in wholesale markets. 
The goal of those markets was to make sure that farmers get a good worth for his or her produce. However, with every passing 12 months, the APMCs turned out to be inefficient with rising cartelisation of middlemen, ban on non-public gamers to enter the commerce, rising corruption and many others. 
The Modi authorities lately launched three payments to advertise a lot simpler commerce for the farm produce and to supply a aggressive marketplace for the producers outdoors the present APMC system. The three legal guidelines had been: 
The Farming Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020: This regulation goals at creating extra buying and selling alternatives outdoors the APMC market yards to assist farmers get remunerative costs as a consequence of extra competitorsThe Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020: This regulation relates a framework for contract farming by means of an settlement between a farmer and a purchaser previous to the manufacturing or rearing of any farm produce. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020: This regulation goals to manage the provision of sure meals objects solely beneath extraordinary circumstances.Had Punjab carried out the farm legal guidelines, the farmers in Punjab wouldn’t be depending on the middlemen (Arhtiyas) to promote their produce and subsequently, wouldn’t getting blackmailed and harassed.
Arhtiyas name for strike in opposition to the state authorities’s determination to implement the DBT system
Earlier this month, Arhtiyas went on strike protesting in opposition to the state authorities’s determination to implement the direct fee system to farmers, bypassing the Arhtiyas. Even although the Punjab authorities agreed to the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to farmers in opposition to the acquisition of foodgrains, the farmers and middlemen within the state weren’t able to abandon their present system.
While the acquisition of meals grains by the state procurement companies for the Rabi harvesting session was to begin from right now, it was blocked by protestors at a number of locations in Punjab. Not a single truck of wheat arrived at Asia’s largest grain market in Khanna in Ludhinana, as farmers stayed away from it. Labourer unions and arhtiyas (fee brokers) staged a strike in opposition to the scheme of direct fee to the farmers, in ‘support’ of the farmers.
However, hours after the Arhtiyas (fee brokers) in Punjab had launched a strike and blocked the acquisition of meals grains from farmers at mandis, the strike was known as off after CM Amarinder Singh held a gathering with them. The Arhtiyas withdrew the strike after the CM assured them that they may stay an integral a part of the meals grain procurement system.