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

Abstract

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.