Page 31 - Putting Farmers First

2004-2014 (UPA GOVERNMENT LED BY
PRIME MINISTER DR. MANMOHAN SINGH)

Ministry of Agriculture formulated a Model APMC
Rules 2007, based on the APMC Act of 2003, and called
for their adoption by the various state governments.

Various states such as Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal
Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan
and Maharashtra, ruled by different parties (Congress,
BJP and others), adopted the Model APMC Act of 2003
at different times between 2005 to 2011.
UPA government set up the M.S. Swaminathan chaired
National Commission on Agriculture in 2006, which
recommended promotion of Unified National Market.

Minister of Agriculture, Sharad Pawar, constituted an
Empowered Committee in March 2010, on Agri-marketing
reforms under the Chairmanship of Harshwardhan Patil,
(A minister of State Government of Maharashtra led by
Congress Party) and 10 State Ministers.
Parallelly, Sharad Pawar personally wrote to all Chief
Ministers in August 2010, urging them to implement
the reforms on the lines of the model APMC Act 2003.
Among other things, the letter written by Sharad Pawar
said, “the need to amend the present APMC act on the
lines of Model APMC Act 2003 to encourage the private
sector in providing alternative competitive marketing
channels in the overall interest of farmers/producers
and consumers cannot be overemphasized”.

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