Punjab Assembly rejects draft of National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing

The Punjab State Assembly on Tuesday (February 26, 2025) rejected the draft of the National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing, terming it against the interests of the State.

The Punjab State Assembly on Tuesday (February 25, 2025) rejected the draft of the National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing, terming it against the interests of the State.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said the State Government has already made its position clear in a written reply sent to the Union government.

The Chief Minister said that the draft policy is an attempt to bring back the contentious provisions of the three farm laws repealed in 2021 by the Government of India after a long protest by the farmers. He said that since this issue is a State subject as per the Constitution, the Government of India should not draw up any such policy.

“The Union Government’s stepmotherly treatment of the State has its roots in the protest spearheaded by Punjab’s farmers against the farm laws, after which the Union government had to bow. The hatred against Punjab is largely because the Centre had to take back this law,” he said.

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The Congress’s Partap Singh Bajwa, Leader of the Opposition, said the draft will prove fatal for the farming sector in Punjab, and the Punjab Congress is prepared to support the Punjab Government against the draft.