Proposal on Farm Laws, 3 Cr Covid Jabs: On Last Day of Assembly Session, Maha Govt's Plan

On the second and last day of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly’s monsoon session, the cabinet is set to clear proposal for tabling amendment to Union farm law. This comes after the Sunday meeting where the core members approved a resolution to reject the act.

Farmers have been camping at Delhi’s borders since November 2020 with their demands that the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 be rolled back and a new law made to guarantee minimum support price for crops.

Before the session, All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) demanded that Uddhav Thackeray’s government should repeal the central law altogether as making changes will not help farmers much.

“Making cosmetic changes to the clauses in the disputed farm laws will not overturn the pro-corporate, anti-farmer motives behind the enactment of these laws. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha and the AIKSCC have therefore taken a firm stand for the complete repeal of the laws, rather than merely seeking minor changes in the provisions,” they said in a statement.

Sources in the government said that a resolution seeking three crore vaccines every month from the Centre may also be passed on Tuesday. They said that Maharashtra has the capacity to vaccinate 10 lakh to 14 lakh people on a daily basis, but the highest in the state has been eight lakh, even as the state has vaccinated the highest number of people nationally.

Maharashtra can vaccinate its population at the earliest to bring about herd immunity, but needs doses from the Centre, sources added. It is speculated that the resolution may lead to rising tension between the government and the opposition, a day after the suspension of 12 MLAs has strained the situation.

The legislators were suspended from the assembly for a year for allegedly misbehaving with presiding officer Bhaskar Jadhav in the Speaker’s chamber. They later met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari seeking his intervention and complained against the MVA government for “trampling upon democracy”. Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said that indiscipline cannot be tolerated.

In the morning, BJP MLAs were seen staging a protest at the state assembly in Mumbai against suspension of its legislators and OBC reservation issue.

The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Monday passed a resolution urging the Centre to provide the 2011 census data to enable the State Backward Class Commission to prepare an empirical data of the OBC population, in a bid to restore political reservations for its members in local bodies.

The Supreme Court earlier this year quashed quota for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in local bodies after observing that the total number of seats earmarked for various communities, including the SCs sand STs, should not exceed 50 per cent of its total strength.

Earlier on Monday, Fadnavis said the SC had asked for an empirical inquiry (into the issue of OBCs population) through the State Backward Class Commission. “The apex court has not asked for census data. The resolution is time pass, face saver and misleading, and will not yield anything. But, we will support the resolution as we want to stand by the OBCs,” the BJP leader said.

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