The Uttarakhand Assembly has passed the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Bill which seeks to promote exports, contract farming, new reforms and private investments and also provides effective regulation in marketing of agricultural produces as well as establishment of proper marketing system.
The Uttarakhand Agriculture Produce Marketing (development and regulation) Bill 2011 was passed by a voice vote yesterday in the House amid stiff opposition even as leader of the Opposition Harak Singh Rawat called for a thorough review of the Bill which was tabled last week.
The Bill was passed after the state cabinet headed by Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank gave its seal of approval in January last.
The new Bill is similar to the model APMC Act seeking to regulate the sale and purchase of agriculture produces and envisages establishment of marketing development fund in the hill state.
Through the new Act, the government would open doors for private investors like ITC and Reliance which have entered into the agriculture sector in a big way, officials said.
The APMC Act contains provisions for setting up private mandis, enabling contract farming and constitution of regulatory authority to ensure a level playing field between the government controlled and private mandis. Private mandis would mean cutting out extra cess like the mandi cess and other charges, reducing final costs for consumers and buyers and allowing better gains for farmers.
The move came after a sub-committee of the state cabinet last year approved the draft. An expert committee has also toured different states like Andhra Pradesh to study the act and later gave its assent. The draft of the act was gathering dust during the past three years after the then Chief Minister B C Khanduri suggested certain changes and formed a sub-committee in this regard.
The new Act is expected to pave the way for the legitimate establishment of private mandis. The bulk purchase licences will also allow the corporate houses to buy directly from farmers in the run-up to the setting up of private mandis in the state.
