Farm bills in the parliament: impact of farmers protest and the democratisation of legislative process in India

ABSTRACT

This research article analyses the impact of the farmers’ agitation on the legislative process in India. The Indian farmers’ protest against the 2020 Indian Agriculture Reform Acts, dubbed as ‘Kala Kanoon’ (black laws), not only voiced dissatisfaction with the contents of the farm bills but also confronted the undemocratic legislative practices. We provide descriptive evidence by discussing five major dimensions of the impact of the protest and the outcome i.e. the repeal of the laws. First, the protest movement and the resultant repeal helped discern a valuable public policy lesson to abandon top-down policy-making. Second, the protest questioned the bureaucratic approach to legislation that excluded the primary stakeholder group from policy-making. Third, it revealed the diminished role of the legislature and the concentration of power in the executive. Fourth, it exposed vulnerabilities in the parliamentary system when the ruling party holds a brute majority. Fifth, the protest emphasized the importance of state autonomy and legislative accountability to hold the executive accountable. We conclude with the summation of the major arguments from the discussion by highlighting the implications of the farmers’ movement for India’s future legislative processes.

KEYWORDS:

• Legislative practice
• Farmer's Protest
• Indian Parliament
• Centre-State Relations
• Majoritarianism
• National Populism
• Democratisation

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our colleagues and the extended professional networks for excellent discussions in this topic area. We extend our gratitude to Christ (Deemed to be University), India and Akita International University, Japan.

Disclaimer

The views and research findings in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any institutions, its affiliates, or other employees.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

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