The arhtiyas (commission agents) of Haryana launched an indefinite strike in the state from Monday onwards to oppose basmati trading on e-NAM portal and direct payment to the farmers for online purchase of paddy.
The president of Haryana State Anaj Mandi Arhtiyas Association, Ashok Gupta, said that his organisation on Tuesday will gherao the houses of MLAs, MPs and ministers in Haryana to push for their demands.
The Haryana government, on its part, insisted that provisions of basmati trading in both ways was implemented last year too and the present agitation by arhtiyas was based only on “misbelief and confusion”.
The state’s agriculture and farmers welfare minister JP Dalal said, “Trading on e-NAM portal has been introduced keeping in view the interests of farmers. Under this portal, the specifications of agricultural produce are uploaded on the portal so that traders from any part of the country can purchase the same at competitive prices through e-action. Under this concept, all the mandis have been interlinked, where the details of produce are uploaded after certifying the same.”
Ashok Gupta, however, countered Dalal’s claims and said that the e-NAM procurement system was “complicated”.
He said, “Under the e-NAM system, if a local trader purchases the produce, then he has to provide grain bags, apart from performing other related duties including loading of the produce onto the trucks. There is no clarity on what happens if the produce is procured by outstation traders through an online system. Further, the produce can’t be lifted till the payment is not transferred to the account of the farmer. Implementation of these formalities are not possible.”
On the issue of procurement by government agencies at minimum support price, Gupta said, “The payment to the farmers in lieu of purchase of their produce should be optional. It means if the farmer concerned wants the procurement agencies to make the payment in his bank account directly, then that is okay. But if he gives consent for payment via arhtiyas, then this should also be implemented.” The state government has plans to start paddy procurement from October 1, but Gupta says that produce has already started landing in the mandis.
Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board (HSAMB) chief administrator Sujan Singh said that both practices — basmati trading on e-NAM portal by private traders and direct payment to the farmers for online procurement of paddy by government agencies — were smoothly implemented in 2021. The officer also said they have tried to address the “confusion” among traders over both systems of procurement.
