Only one out of the three farm laws had reform in it: Subhash Garg

Emphasising that the government brought about the agriculture reforms in a "disruptive manner", which led people to question it, former economic affairs secretary Subhash Garg said that out of the three farm laws only one had a reform element. "The law granting marketing freedom only had a reform element in it. It provided farmers the freedom to trade anywhere and the mandi tax system was abolished. The other two were not actually reforms. While one was for contract agriculture, the amendment to the Essential Commodities Act was more ludicrous," said Garg, adding that the Essential Commodities Act should be abolished lock stock and barrel. He also pointed out that the seriousness with which the government imposed this is reflected in the fact that these laws were passed in September 2020 and in October, the government put controls on onions and export was banned.