⁍ Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi defended new laws aimed at lifting restrictions on farmers.

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⁍ India’s lower house of parliament on Thursday passed three emergency executive orders.

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⁍ This includes a rule that forces growers to sell their produce only at India’s more than 7,000 regulated wholesale markets.

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– India’s lower house of parliament passed three emergency executive orders yesterday that, in the words of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will “unshackle” millions of farmers and help them get better prices for their produce. But farmers aren’t happy with the legislation, which requires them to sell their produce at the country’s more than 7,000 regulated wholesale markets, Reuters reports. “The current system ensures that farmers are paid immediately after selling their crop in the market yard itself. If farmers sell outside, who will ensure that they are paid the promised price?” a Maharashtra state official says. Many farmer organizations oppose the legislation because they say that if big buyers start buying directly from producers, small growers will hardly have any bargaining power. “The APMC Act forces every buyer to come to wholesale markets, which is designed to help farmers get competitive, assured, and timely payments,” a farm leader from Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, says. If big institutions start purchasing directly from farmers, state governments will lose out on the tax that these buyers have to pay at wholesale markets. “The current system ensures that farmers are paid immediately after selling their crop in the market yard itself,” a Maharashtra state official says. “If farmers sell outside, who will ensure that they are paid the promised price?”