New farm laws likely to harm livelihood of small traders, says CAIT

A section of the traders has strongly objected to the use of bicholoya (middlemen) in reference to the farmers agitations by several political parties including by senior leaders of the ruling BJP. They said bicholoya is a derogatory term for the traders of this country, which has generated lot of resentment in the trading community.

The traders said after the new laws there was a danger of increasing monopoly in agriculture trade which would impact the livelihood of millions of small traders. 

“Traders of the country who spend their life in maintaining the supply chain against heavy odds and collecting revenue for the government without any remuneration should not be insulted in this most casual manner,” the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said.

In a separate letter to BJP President JP Nadda on Sunday, the CAIT has criticised an article written by former Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das where he reportedly termed the middlemen and traders as snakes and mafia while saying that through the three farm laws, the government has freed the farmers from the snakebite of brokers and bicholoya.

Bid to mislead farmers will not succeed: Rajnath

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said attempts to "mislead" farmers on recent agriculture laws will not succeed.

Addressing a state-level function to mark the third anniversary of the Jai Ram Thakur-led BJP government in Himachal Pradesh, he said the new laws will raise the income of farmers, but the Congress is misleading them.

Whenever a reform is effected, it takes a few years before it starts showing positive results, Singh said in his virtual address.