Covid package: Centre bites the bullet, whittles down EC Act to ease inter-state farm trade

The proposed freeing inter-state trade will complement whatever limited APMC reforms that some states have undertaken in recent months.Converting the crisis precipitated by the Covid-19 into a reform opportunity, the government on Friday moved to unshackle the agriculture value-chains by deciding to deregulate essential commodity trade and introduce a Central law to ease inter-state farm trade, effectively overriding the APMC mandis that have shown imperviousness to change.