Novita Singh

Sharmila Joshi

Editor

large_01-24-NS.jpg

medium_01-24-NS.jpg

small_01-24-NS.jpg

thumbnail_01-24-NS.jpg

01-24-NS.jpg

It’s
a massive grid – 152 main
yards, 279 sub-yards and 1,389 purchase centres <a href="https://mandiboard.nic.in/response_report.pdf">across
Punjab</a> (in 2019-20). Together, it forms a
safety net for Jaswinder Singh. A farmer feels secure in this mandi system, says 42-year-old Jaswinder of Longowal town in Sangrur district,
whose family cultivates 17 acres. “I can take my harvest to the mandi without any hesitation or fear knowing
that I will get the money for it. I know the process and am certain I will get
my due.”

Main (or principal) yards are huge mandis (like the one in Sunam in the photos
here). These yards have various facilities and areas allotted to farmers to
bring and pile their harvest, usually in front of the shops of their <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/punjabs-arhtiyas-sins-of-commission/">arhtiyas (commission agents)</a>https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/punjabs-arhtiyas-sins-of-commission/. Sub-yards are, broadly, additional nearby spaces if the area
within a principal yard is inadequate for the produce that year. Purchase
centres are smaller mandis, mostly in
villages (like the Sheron mandi in
the photos here). Together, these comprise Punjab’s vast Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee
(APMC) network. 

“When my crop is sold, I get a J-form from the arhtiya and that works as a security until the
payment comes,” says Jaswinder. “But most importantly for me, since it is a
government set-up, if anything untoward is to happen with my payment, I know I
am protected under the law and that is a big security,” he adds (referring to
the Punjab Agricultural Produce
Markets Act of 1961).  

The APMC network ensures that crops are procured in a regulated process
by private traders or government agencies like the Food Corporation of India or
Markfed (Punjab State Cooperative
Supply &amp; Marketing Federation Limited), which mainly purchase wheat
and paddy at a state-mandated minimum support price (MSP). Once the grain reaches
any of the mandis in Punjab, FCI or Markfed officials test its quality, according to
specific standards like the amount of moisture it contains. Then the grain is
auctioned and sold. The process is routed through the arhtiyas, who are a critical link in this chain. 

Accessibility and
reliability are major benefits of such a system, says 32-year-old Amandeep
Kaur from Dugal Kalan village
in Patran tehsil of
Patiala district. “The most important
thing for me is that I can take my produce right to the village mandi [purchase centre]. It is  convenient and I know the rate I will get for
my crop [as the MSP]. We have seen what is happening with sugarcane in the
state. There is no centralised system for it, so farmers have to take their
produce sometimes to one city then another wherever they get a better price.
How can we wander about the state searching for a better price?&quot;

Novita Singh with drone operator Ladi Bawa

02-3-NS.jpg

Amandeep’s family cultivates 22 acres – six of their
own and the remaining taken on lease. “We are very much dependent on the arhtiya 
too,” she adds. “For example, if it rains and our wheat harvest gets
wet, we can leave it with the arhtiya
in the mandi for even 15 days until
it dries out and still be sure that it will sell. That will definitely not be
possible in a private mandi.” 

&quot;Once we sell our
produce the payment comes after six months, but the arhtiya gives us money to sustain until the payments come,” says 27-year-old Jagjeevan
Singh from Mangwal village
in Sangrur tehsil (and district), who
grows wheat and paddy on three acres. “Moreover, in a mandi I am certain that at least my costs will
be covered because of the MSP.” 

However, the <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/library/resource/the-farmers-produce-trade-and-commerce-promotion-and-facilitation-act-2020/">Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce
(Promotion and Facilitation) Act </a>, 2020, aims to do away with middlemen
and allow the farmer to sell his/her produce directly to the buyer. This could
weaken the matrix of APMC mandis –
along with arhtiyas and other links in a reliable
marketing chain built over decades in Punjab, starting with the Green Revolution period around the mid-1960s. 

The farmers protesting at Delhi’s borders are opposed
to this law, which they fear
will dismantle decades of this support groundwork. They are also protesting
against the <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/library/resource/the-farmers-empowerment-and-protection-agreement-on-price-assurance-and-farm-services-act-2020/">Farmers (Empowerment and Protection)
Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020</a>, and the <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/library/resource/the-essential-commodities-amendment-act-2020/">Essential Commodities (Amendment)
Act, 2020</a>. And demanding that all three laws are repealed. These laws were first passed as ordinances on June 5 last year, then introduced as farm bills in Parliament on September 14 and hastened
into Acts by the 20th of that month.

These protests began on November 26, 2020,
and even earlier in Punjab – with stirs starting by mid-August that were in
full force by September-October.

Punjab’s Arhtiyas Association supports the farmers’ protests. Ravinder
Cheema, its president, says that mandis provide
an option to the farmer to sell their produce. “Along with the government
agencies, there are [private] traders also present at mandis. So if farmers feel they are not
getting a good price then there is an option.” The new law will eliminate this
bargaining power held by the farmer, and will also allow a trader to sell
outside the mandis – which means no
taxes (to be paid by the trader over the MSP). And so no trader will come to
the mandis to procure, says Cheema, and
that is how the APMC system will slowly become redundant.

03-2a-NS.jpg

Aranya Raj Singh

04-4b-NS.jpg

05-4a-NS.jpg

06-6a-NS.jpg

07-8-NS.jpg

08-15-NS.jpg

09-9-NS.jpg

10-11-NS.jpg

11-13-NS.jpg

12-12-NS.jpg

13-14-NS.jpg

14-19-NS.jpg

15-23-NS.jpg

16-22-NS.jpg

17-21-NS.jpg

18-16-NS.jpg

19-18-NS.jpg

20-5-NS.jpg

In Punjab, mandis are the means to survival

पंजाबात मंडी म्हणजे जगण्याचा आधार

’پنجاب: جہاں منڈیوں کے سہارے چلتی ہے زندگی کی گاڑی‘

ପଞ୍ଜାବରେ ମଣ୍ଡି ହେଉଛି ବଞ୍ଚିବାର ସାହା ଭରସା

মাণ্ডির ভরসায় বেঁচে আছেন পঞ্জাবের চাষিরা

പഞ്ചാബില്‍ മണ്ഡിച്ചന്തകള്‍ അതിജീവനോപാധിയാണ്

மண்டிகளே வாழ்க்கைக்கான ஆதாரம்

পাঞ্জাৱত মাণ্ডি অবিহনে জীয়াই থকা মস্কিল

పంజాబ్లో, మనుగడకు మండీలే మార్గం

‘पंजाब: जहां मंडियों के सहारे चलती है जीवन-गाड़ी’

ਮੰਡੀਆਂ ਹੀ ਹਨ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੀ ਕਿਸਾਨੀ ਦਾ ਵਜੂਦ

ಪಂಜಾಬ್: ಮಂಡಿಗಳು‌ ರೈತರ ಬದುಕಿನ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ

Sangrur

At present, we can only accept donations in Indian rupees by Indian citizens. All donations made to the CounterMedia Trust are eligible for exemption under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Here is a copy of our exemption certificate.


India is bigger than New Delhi. And people need to know more about the rest of this vast nation.


Younger, media-saturated generations are growing up knowing little about their country, but a lot about the elites of a few metros and towns. For a narrowly-owned, commercially-driven media, the dumbing down of a nation is part of standard operating procedure. The last available data of the Centre for Media Studies (CMS, Delhi) show us that reports from New Delhi account for 66 per cent of news on the front pages of major dailies. The CMS data also found that just about 0.24 per cent of front page news came out of rural India. The TV channels are not much better.PARI exists to change that.We are a non-profit organisation. We publish under creative commons, and do not charge readers a subscription fee or put-up advertisements. Nothing is behind a paywall and we are completely free-to-access by anyone. We guard our independence and receive no direct grants from governments and corporations, nor any funding that could dictate our content. So, we are dependent on volunteer labour, donations from individuals, foundations and institutions that see value in independent and free media.PARI is changing the way Indian journalism reports and documents the rural.India is more than the elite of a few metros and towns. We report on rural lives and livelihoods, languages, communities, migrants and more. We need your help to pull off this most ambitious of Indian journalistic endeavours. The scale of this effort costs money. Donate generously - and spread the word about PARI.&nbsp;

Donate FAQs


Let’s get you acquainted

Welcome to PARI

All our content is, and will forever be free to consume. If you enjoy our work, you can support us by becoming a volunteer or by donating to help fund our work.

Want to republish this article? Please write to <a href="mailto:zahra@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">zahra@ruralindiaonline.org</a> with a cc to <a href="mailto:namita@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">namita@ruralindiaonline.org</a>

In Punjab, mandis are the means to survival

Farmers in Punjab say the vast and accessible network of mandis across the state offers them security, along with MSP and other reliable processes – and they fear these will be dismantled by the new farm laws

Related stories

A rain-scented walk in Sivagangai

Living on ravaged land

Biswas and the bamboos on his bike

Recycling energy, Godda style

Bhadels of Goa

Pookadai: still throbbing with morning life

Koli Kadlas

Malnourishment high among children of migrants: study

Wheels of the rural Indian West

Living Under a Red Cloud in Bellary

Vedla – earrings of the Maher community

Dreaming of water, drowning in debt

Kali: the dancer and his dreams

Farmer's diet worse than a convict's

In Yavatmal, life goes on

Suicides are about the living, not the dead

Death of a carpenter

Hoisa Shigmo!

Women farmers: weaving a life in Anantapur

Defiant in Dhinkia

Spice and all that's nice

Kerala's Green Army

The ‘jugaad’ not-a-mobile

Health as someone else's wealth

Calibrating in a Kudumbashree assembly unit