Rethink contract farming: Making it happen doesn't require a new law

The real danger is that the involvement of the law enforcement bureaucracy at every stage, as envisaged in the Centre's model Bill, might actually prove counterproductive

The draft of the model Bill on contract farming, circulated by the agriculture ministry for public comments, leaves most stakeholders, including farmers and the agri-processing industry, displeased — and for good reasons. The Bill seeks to create an elaborate infrastructure at the state, district and panchayat levels for registering and regulating agricultural contracts and settling disputes regarding breach of agreed terms. The moot point is whether a separate law, and an extensive legal framework, is needed to deal with just contract farming. This assumes significance as the existing Indian Contract Act, 1872, enacted by the British rulers on the lines