Misleading: New farm bills provide a legal mechanism forcing buyers to pay farmers on time

Dispute resolution mechanism under contract farming provisions, currently stops with the SDMs court and farmers' cannot approach higher courts.The Indian parliament passed three farm bills on Sep. 27, 2020. These bills are the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill. The second bill equips farmers to enter into contract farming agreements with buyers at pre-determined prices and provide local dispute settlement mechanisms. However, farmers' want the government to broaden the scope of the dispute resolution mechanism under contract farming provisions, which currently stop with the SDMs court, and they want to ensure that they are not exploited by big companies they enter into a contract with. According to Section 13 of The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce Promotion and Facilitation Act, 2020, "No suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings shall lie against the Central Government or the State Government, or any officer of the Central Government or the State Government or any other person in respect of anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done under this Act or of any rules or orders made thereunder." Moreover, according to section 15, "No civil court shall have jurisdiction to entertain any suit or proceedings in respect of any matter, the cognizance of which can be taken and disposed of by any authority empowered by or under this Act or the rules made thereunder." This in called "Bar of jurisdiction of civil court" and the Bar Council of Delhi also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming that the 'bar of civil court jurisdiction will be detrimental to legal professionals' interest. Moreover, Section 8 states, "In case of any dispute arising out of a transaction between the farmer and a trader under section 4, the parties may seek a mutually acceptable solution through conciliation by filing an application to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate who shall refer such dispute to a Conciliation Board to be appointed by him for facilitating the binding settlement of the dispute". However, the decision has to be mutually accepted, and farmers' cannot approach the court unilaterally. Therefore, even though the new farm bills provide some protection, it's mostly at a local level and does not let them approach higher courts. The bills will also increase the existing unjust imbalance of power between farmers and the giant corporations they will be dealing with because of these laws, which could lead to exploitation, according to People's Archive Of Rural India (PARI). The article also says that Section 19 of this farm law is a strike at Article 32 of India's Constitution, which guarantees a right to constitutional remedies (legal action). Since Nov. 26, 2020, farmers in India have been protesting against three bills passed in the parliament. So far, around eleven rounds of talks have taken place between the government and the farmer unions; however, they were inconclusive.