View: Why farmers are upset about agriculture reforms that claim to grant them more freedom

观点：为何农民对宣称给予能他们更多自由的农业改革感到不安

Three months ago when Parliament was not in session, the Government of India issued three ordinances. Normally ordinances are issued only as an emergency law, and they have to be converted into proper legislation as soon as Parliament reconvenes. These three ordinances were about agriculture and farming. All three were in the spirit of ‘reforms’, i.e. removing shackles from the farmer. Now one of the ordinances has been passed in the Lok Sabha. The other two are in the pipeline. You would imagine that farmers would welcome any reform that gives them more freedom.

三个月前，当议会还没有召开时，印度政府发布了三条法令。通常，法令仅作为紧急状态法发布，一旦议会重新召开，就必须将其转化为适当的立法。这三条法令是关于农业和耕作的。这三条法令都是本着“改革”的精神，即为农民解除束缚。现在，人民院已经通过了其中一项法令，另外两条正在审核中。你们会认为农民会欢迎任何能给他们更多自由的改革。

But this ‘granting of freedom’ has met with a big backlash. Farmers in Punjab and Haryana have come to the streets. The agitation may spread to Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh too. It has spilled on to highways. Opposition parties too are criticising the ordinance, but that is expected. The ruling party in Punjab is opposing the new law, but asking farmers to not blockade traffic. The most awkward thing for the ruling party in Delhi was that the Union food processing industries minister resigned from the cabinet. She resigned in protest because she claimed that the new law is anti-farmer. But in the four-page resignation letter written to the prime minister she did not spell out how, exactly, the new reformist law was anti-farmer. She belongs to Alkali Dal, a coalition partner to BJP.

但这种“给予自 由”的改革遭到了强烈抵制。旁遮普邦和哈里亚纳邦的农民走上街头抗议。骚乱可能还会蔓延到拉贾斯坦邦、中央邦和北方邦。抗议已经蔓延到了高速公路上。反对党也在批评该法令，但这是意料之中的。旁遮普的执政党反对这项新法律，但要求农民不要阻塞交通。对德里的执政党来说，最尴尬的事情是联邦食品加工业部长从内阁辞职。她辞职以示抗议，她声称新法律是反农民的。但在致总理的四页辞职信中，她并没有详细说明这项新的改革法律究竟是如何反农民的。该部长来自人民党的联盟伙伴Alkali Dal。

Why are the farmers so upset, and how come the Centre is still pushing this new law? Agriculture is notoriously shackled by all kinds of laws, which control price and quantity. Hence the system is sought to be compensated by subsidies to the farmer. It has been difficult for successive governments to break out of this syndrome.

农民如此恼火，为何中央政府还在推行这项新法律?众所周知，农业受到各种控制价格和数量的法律的束缚。因此，政府希望通过对农民发放补贴来补偿这一制度的不足。历届政府都很难摆脱这一烦恼。

The present law dilutes the power of the middleman. The farmer is now free to sell his produce to whoever he wants to at whatever price he negotiates. It basically removes the middleman, the adhtiya, who operate in the mandi, i.e. the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC). Of course, the option of selling in the APMC is still there. So the farmer has more options, and how can that be a bad thing?

现行法律削弱了中间商的权力。农民现在可以自由地把农产品卖给任何人，价格双方协商。这基本上跳过了在大市场（mandi）上运作的中间商（adhtiya），即农产品营销委员会(APMC)。当然，仍然可以选择通过APMC出售农产品。所以农民有了更多的选择，这怎么可能是坏事呢?

印度经济时报读者的评论：译者：Jessica.Wu

ingal Indi

Even Minister of state agriculture said that she understood the act now For prices farmer must do collective agreement with super-markets/industries for all their produce/vegetable/fruits/sugarcane and so on to get good prices better than mandi create better storage facilities to help farmers

就连印度农业部长也说，她理解这些法案，为了让农产品、蔬菜、水果和甘蔗等等获得比中间商更高的价格，农民必须与市场达成集体协议，创造更好的储存设施来帮助农民

Shri

Poor and desperate people are easier to control. opposition parties have been using this tactic from British for decades. Time to make desi farmers WEALTHIER & HAPPIER. Vande Mataram

贫穷和绝望的人更好控制。英国反对党几十年来一直在使用这种策略。是时候让印度农民更富有、更幸福了。

Shri

Lets have all our smart people in India move to villages, partner with farmers and get all rich together. Better help our desi farmers well.

让印度所有聪明人搬到农村，与农民合作，共同致富。更好地帮助我们的农民。

Shri

Very nice. Most farmers will be getting huge benefits.

很好。大多数农民将获得巨大利益。

Ravi Kishore Shrivastav

THE ONLY SECTOR WHICH HAS SHOWN POSITIVE GROWTH during pandemic so government should be sensitive about this act and never forget that more than 60% people are dependent and engaged in this sector.

农业是唯一一个在疫情期间出现正增长的部门，因此印度政府应该慎重考虑这一法案，永远不要忘记60%以上的人依赖农业糊口养家。

Ankul

Those who are protesting are not farmers. They must be middlemen (dalals). This needs to be exposed by government.

那些抗议的人不是农民，肯定是中间商。印度政府应该揭露这一点。

Damodar Biswal

The new policy needs massive awareness among farmers.

我们应该让广大农民了解新政策。

Damodar Biswal

Those who make adverse comment on the agricultural policy should point out the clauses on which they disagree n why.This help the public to understand the policy.

那些对农业政策持反对意见的人应该指出他们不同意的条款和原因，这有助于公众理解政策。

Chandrasekaran Krishnamurthy

The farmers are to be explained the salient features of the new scheme and as how marginal farmers will benefit.

向农民解释新政策的好处，以及农民将如何获益。

A.R. N.

The P.M. is not a visionary person. He is a person hiding his real self. He claims the law is beneficial to farmer. But behind his claim, there is his sinister intention.

总理不是一个有远见的人，他是一个隐藏真实自我的人。他声称这项法律对农民有利，但在他的声明背后，隐藏着他的邪恶意图。

Vijaya Kumar

I firmly believe this is a move to help the big retail Giants like Ambani who had now closed the deal with Future Group so that they can negotiate with the farmers for cheaper prices lesser than the MSP. Otherwise, they will be forced to procure wheat and rice from mandi with MSP rates.

我坚信这一举措是为了帮助像安巴尼这样的大型零售巨头，他们已经完成了与未来集团的交易，这样他们就可以与农民议价，获得比MSP更低的价格。否则，他们将被迫以MSP价格从中间商那购买小麦和大米。

Buddiya

But definitely that will help the Common man in getting quality products at comitative prices and also pushes India as a Global player in farm commodities exports much like Russia, Australia and the US for sure.

毫无疑问，这将帮助普通人以合适的价格买到高质量的产品，并推动印度成为全球农产品出口大国，就像俄罗斯、澳大利亚和美国一样。

Dhananjay Datar

Any change not explained to people at grass root before made into law will have push back from the beneficiaries. In this case, it is dealing with farmers who are tightly in opposition hands

在制定法律之前没有向基层人民解释清楚，肯定会受到抵制的，即使他们是受益人。而且，农民现在牢牢掌握在反对派手中。

Sridhar Raghunatha Rao

Two things were important.

Firstly, the grass root level politicians should have educated the farmers about the drawbacks of the present system and advantages of the new system instead of exposing them to any misgivings.

Secondly, how does the farmers know the right price for direct negotiations? They may be again mislead. A mechanism is necessary to avoid this

有两件事很重要。

首先，基层官员应该让农民明白现行制度的弊端和新制度的优点，不能让他们有任何疑虑。

其次，印度农民怎么知道直接议价的话，什么价格合适?

他们可能再次被误导。必须有一种机制来避免这种情况

Buddiya

Anything in this world is controlled by demand & Supply...so understand that how to balance and avoid middlemen automatically the farmer and the end user get benefitted ..Which this ordinance aims to do. and make India more self reliant in Agri commodities to feed increasing population.

世界上的任何事情都是由供需决定的。所以明白如何平衡和避免中间商，农民和最终客户自然能受益。这是新法令的目的，新法律是为了使印度在农产品方面更加自给自足，以养活不断增长的人口。

Sridhar Raghunatha Rao

Generally in retail market the buyer quotes a lower price and the seller exaggerates the actual price. In between someone will lose

一般在零售市场，买方出价较低，卖方要价过高，两者之间总会有人吃亏。