Abstract

Three disputed laws that will change the way farmers of India do business have instigated one of India's biggest protests and a months-long standoff with the government. The disputed acts and their effect on the farmers, precisely the small and marginal farmers, will be the focal point of this paper that will be analysed in-depth and closely scrutinized. The reason for keeping the focus on small farmers is that approximately 84% of the total farmers lie in this category and they contribute to about 60% of the total crop production but who however, do not earn enough to run their households. The agricultural sector, being one of the highest contributors to the country’s GDP holds utmost importance. The bills, which have now been passed by the parliament to become an act, is seeing a stiff retaliation against it from the farmers of the country. It has now escalated from being a local protest to an international agenda of farmers rights and well-being. One of the major grounds of the protest is the farmers being of the opinion that the MSP (minimum support price) system will eventually be scrapped and the produce will be on the mercy of the open market. The segment who will be most affected by these changes will be the small and marginal farmers who own less than 2 hectares (4.9 acres) of land and who form the majority of the Indian farming community. We have tried to highlight the positive and negative aspects of the acts through this paper by extensive analysis for which various methods of interpretation and several doctrines of laws were applied.

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