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Agencies

Seventh round of talks between farmer leaders and government underway at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi
04-January-2021

The seventh round of talks between the Centre and farmer unions over the three farm laws got underway at the Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi on Monday afternoon. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Railways, Commerce and Food Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Parkash, who is an MP from Punjab, are holding the talks with the representatives of 40 farmer unions at the Vigyan Bhawan.

The meeting began with paying respects to the farmers who lost their lives during the ongoing protest, a PTI report said.

According to media reports, farmer leaders are likely to press the government to repeal the three farm laws and enact a law on the MSP.

Delhi: Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Piyush Goyal and Som Parkash along with government officials and representatives of farmers observe a two-minute silence for farmers who died during the ongoing protest. https://t.co/5AtK2LTB9n pic.twitter.com/Yyiq28baJZ

— ANI (@ANI) January 4, 2021

Earlier on Sunday, the umbrella body, AIKSCC, said that the outcome of today's talks will be crucial in deciding their future strategy. On December 30 when farmers and the government had resumed the talks, the government had agreed to their two demands on power tariff and penalties for stubble burning. The remaining two demands of repealing the three laws and a law on the MSP didn't figure in the talks. The two topics will be on the agenda when thw two sides hold meet on Monday at the Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi.

Farmer unions are likely to urge the government to consider taking the ordinance route to repeal the laws. Besides, they are likely to flag the private members' bill to meet their demand on extending legal guarantee to the MSP. The bill was introduced in Lok Sabha in 2018 by then MP Raju Shetti of the Swabhimani Paksha.

Meanwhile, representatives of farmer unions said that they will have to take firm steps if the government does not take a decision in their favour in the January 4 meeting. Unions have warned that they will start shutting all malls and petrol pumps in Haryana if the government fails to resolve their main demands for the repeal of three new farm laws and a legal guarantee for MSP in the meeting.

Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav said that the government has not moved an inch on the two main issues -- repeal of three agri laws and legal guarantee for MSP. He claimed that the government has denied giving in-principle commitment to the issue of legal guarantee for MSP. Spelling out their next course of action, Yadav said that while talks with the Union government will go on, farmer unions will intensify the protest simultaneously and take it to every corner of the country.

According to the unions, if the results of the talks on January 4 are not satisfactory, a tractor march will be taken out from the protest site to the Kundli�Manesar�Palwal (KMP) Expressway on January 6 and a call will also be given to those farmers protesting at Shahjahanpur on the Haryana-Rajasthan border to move towards the national capital. Rallies, dharnas, sit-ins and press conferences will be ogranised across the country from January 6 to January 20 to counter alleged government propaganda that the protest was Punjab-centric.

Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, are protesting at various borders of Delhi for more than a month against the three new laws. The government has presented these laws as major agriculture reforms aimed at helping farmers and increasing their income, but the protesting unions fear that the new legislations have left them at the mercy of big corporates by weakening the MSP and mandi systems.