The winter session of Parliament began in Delhi with a bang on November 29. The Narendra Modi-headed BJP Government repealed the three contentious Farm Laws, sadly without a debate on the first day of the session, just as they hustled through the three Farm Bills in 2020 without any discussion. If the nearly year-long, largely non-violent ‘Satyagraha’ by thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana, U.P. and Rajasthan and supported by farmers groups from across the country including Tamil Nadu, had forced the Union Government’s hand to finally repeal all the three Farm Laws, on the very same day 12 Opposition MPs in the Rajya Sabha were suddenly ‘suspended’ for the rest of the winter session. The BJP Government wanted to reach out to the farming community, particularly in States like U.P. and Punjab where an Assembly election is due in early 2022, by rescinding the by-now infamous three Farm Laws; but the ruling dispensation has unwittingly found the distance widening as the 12 MPs suspension in the Upper House seems to have alienated the government further from democratic norms. ‘The Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021’, passed by both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on the same day -subsequently it received the President’s assent also-, was introduced by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Mr. Narendra Singh Tomar. The unified Bill repealed the ‘Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, the Farmers produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 and to amend the Essential Commodities Act, 1955-, and is historic. Yet, the reasons stated for the single Bill which repealed all the three controversial Farm Laws passed last year, left a perceptible gap between the Treasury and the Opposition Benches. The statement of objects and reasons appended to the Repeal Bill maintained that the enactments were made “for the overall socio-economic development of the farmers and the rural sector” in the backdrop of a cry for reforms of the agriculture sector during the last three decades. Mr. Tomar said in his statement that while various Governments in the past tried to initiate such reforms, it was not done in a comprehensive way. Further, there have been technological advancements in recent times....