Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala will challenge the BJP led central government’s new farm laws in the Supreme Court.
Though there was a plan to bring an alternative legislation in Kerala, the state government decided not to go ahead with the proposal for now. The agriculture department has forwarded the concerned file to the chief minister for taking a policy decision on the matter. A decision is expected within two days.
Earlier the government had sought the law department’s opinion regarding the stand to be taken against the Centre's farm laws; whether it should approach the Supreme Court or frame an alternative law. The law department gave a positive opinion for both the options.
The state government believes that implementation of farm laws will be impractical and agriculture minister V S Sunil Kumar too is in favour of approaching the Supreme Court.
When the Centre promulgated the ordinance various state governments and union territories issued orders for implementing the law. However, many states including Kerala have not yet issued a favourable order. Even though the Prime Minister's Office had sent a missive on this matter , Kerala government replied that there are difficulties in implementing the central ordinance in a time bound manner.
Enacted in September, the farm laws have been projected by BJP-led the central government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country.
However, protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of Minimum Support Price (MSP) and leave them at the mercy of big corporates.
Union Ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh held a high level meeting at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence on Saturday morning. The farmers have called for a nationwide strike on Tuesday.
