On 3rd June, 2020, the Union Cabinet approved an ordinance to amend the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, to deregulate price of certain agricultural commodities.
The law was enacted at the time when India was dependent on imports for food items and hoarding and black marketing of food items was rampant. However, now India has become surplus in most agri-commodities. Still farmers have not been unable to get better prices due to lack of investment in cold storage, ware- houses, processing and export as the entrepreneurial spirit gets dampened due to hanging sword of ECA.
