Amarinder Singh promised to guard Arhtiyas earlier than Punjab elections

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has threatened to maneuver the Supreme Court if the state payments in opposition to the farm legal guidelines don’t obtain the President’s assent accusing the Centre of making an attempt to interrupt the ‘age old’ relationship between farmers and the middlemen. Singh described the connection between farmers and arhtiyas as ‘age-old time-tested’.
“We will go to the Supreme Court, if the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind does not give assent to the State Amendment Bills, which unfortunately the Governor is still sitting on, instead of forwarding them for presidential approval, even though the Vidhan Sabha had unanimously passed the Bills, with all parties voting for them. It was tragic, however, that the Akalis and AAP had later started playing political games on the issue,” Amarinder Singh mentioned
As is obvious, the Congress social gathering is overtly batting on behalf of Arhtiyas at this level. For fairly a while now, the opposition events have deserted the veneer of farmer pursuits they’d donned and working because the arms and voice of the middlemen. It turned clear as soon as and for all when the Punjab authorities opposed the Direct Transfer of Funds to farmers within the state for crop procurement.
Punjab Food & Supply Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu had mentioned on the thirteenth of March that funds to farmers would attain “directly” by Arhtiyas.
As per guidelines of APMC Act, we’re making funds to farmers by arthiyas. The CM has additionally made it clear that funds will straight attain the farmers by arhtiyas: Punjab Food & Supply Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu pic.twitter.com/vsNYlesYGl— ANI (@ANI) March 13, 2021
The stand adopted by the Congress social gathering, because it seems, has historic priority. When the UPA Government in 2012 had prompt direct switch of fee to farmers, Congress leaders from the state had opposed the identical as properly. There was a SAD-BJP alliance authorities within the state then.
Union minister and Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, Sangrur MP Vijayinder Singla and different Congress MPs had met KV Thomas, the then union minister for shopper affairs, main a delegation of the State Arhtiyas Association. They had urged the Union Government to be accommodative of Arhtiya pursuits because the latter shaped the “backbone of the procurement process”.
“The union minister has apprised us that making direct payments to farmers was only a suggestion given to the Punjab government,” Preneet Kaur had mentioned. “Without arhityas, there is no system in Punjab to carry out procurement of food grains. Abolishing the present system would only lead to problems for farmers.” Nine years later, nothing a lot seems to have modified.
However, what did change was the opinion of the farmer unions. The farmer unions had been livid with the Congress leaders for backing the Arhtiyas within the matter. “The Congress must come clean. Why this flip-flop? Several times the party leaders extended their support to abolish the system. Now they are supporting arhityas, who are looting the farmers in the name of commission,” Bhartiya Kisan Union (Dakunda) state president Buta Singh Burajgill mentioned.
“When Capt Amarinder Singh was the chief minister, he had assured us that he would pursue the matter of doing away with arhtiyas as they were bringing miseries to farmers,” Consortium of Farmers Association state president Satnaam Singh Behru mentioned. “In the current previous too, the Congress supported us. The U-turn have to be on account of strain from the robust arhitya foyer, which has cash energy.
By 2016, nonetheless, throughout the election marketing campaign, Amarinder Singh had promised that the arhtiya system wouldn’t be abolished ought to the Congress type the federal government within the state. He mentioned whereas addressing a delegation of Arhtiyas, “The Congress government will not take any decision or formulate any new policy without getting mandate from the arhtiyas and other communities connected with the trade.”
In 2018, the Punjab Government had introduced a Bill to manage Arhtiyas which drew sharp reactions throughout the social gathering itself. While Amarinder Singh could now described the connection between farmers and Arhtiyas as ‘age-old time-tested’, his personal MLA had mentioned again then, “There was a time when farmers and commission agents had a good equation but now the scenario has changed.”
By the time the protests in opposition to the farm legal guidelines started, the Congress social gathering was absolutely on the facet of the Arhtiyas. The Punjab Chief Minister accused the central authorities of adopting “intimidatory tactics” in opposition to “arhtiyas” following IT Raids in opposition to a few of them.
Meanwhile, there have been studies that the Arhtiyas discovered themselves on the mistaken facet of the fence when demonetisation was introduced. “When we go to these arhtiyas for our money or for loans and advance payments, they make us sit for the whole day for even a paltry amount of Rs 5,000. How do they expect us to convert their black money worth lakhs into white overnight?,” one farmer had instructed Catch News.
It is extensively identified that Arhtiyas have been on the forefront of the ‘farmer protests’ and these protests within the title of farmers is, in actuality, a protest by the middlemen, of the middlemen and for the middlemen. The current statements by the Punjab Chief Minister and different Ministers in his cabinet have solely served to drive dwelling the purpose additional.