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Agencies

Centre, farmers to hold talks day after unions turn down offer to pause agri laws for 18 months
22-January-2021

The next round of talks between the Centre and the farmers' unions is scheduled to be held today in Delhi. In the earlier 10th round of talks, the government had proposed to put on hold the implementation of farm laws for 18 months and set up a joint committee to find an amicable solution in the interest of the farming community. Farmers on Thursday, however, rejected the Centre's proposal and said that they want nothing but a complete repeal of all the three legislations.

"In a full general body meeting of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha today, the proposal put forth by the government yesterday, was rejected. A full repeal of three central farm acts and enacting a legislation for remunerative MSP for all farmers were reiterated as the pending demands of the movement," Samkyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of protesting unions, said in a statement on Thursday.

During the internal meeting, which lasted for over four hours, the farmers also asserted that they "will not go back to their homes until their demand to repeal the three contentious farm laws is accepted by the government".

However, Jagjit Singh Dalewal of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Sindhupur), one of the 41 union leaders participating in the negotiations with the government, said a final decision is yet to be taken on the government's proposal and various union leaders were still discussing the matter.

Tractor parade on R-Day
Meanwhile, the meeting between the protesting unions and police over the January 26 tractor rally remained inconclusive on Thursday as the farmers stuck to their demand to take it out on Delhi's busy Outer Ring Road.

"In the meeting held with the police officials, police requested farmers to not conduct the parade in Delhi while the farmers restated their plan about doing the parade on the Outer Ring Road of Delhi," Morcha said in statement. It stated that this peaceful movement is becoming people's movement and getting nationwide.

The three laws have already been stayed by the Supreme Court on January 11 till further orders, and the apex court also formed a committee of experts to resolve the deadlock. The panel has been asked by the apex court to submit its report within two months after consulting all stakeholders. The court-appointed panel on Thursday started its consultation process and interacted with 10 farmer organisations from eight states, including Uttar Pradesh.

Enacted in September last year, the three laws have been projected by the Central government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country. However, the protesting farmers have expressed their apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of MSP (minimum support price) and do away with the "mandi" (wholesale market) system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.

Tomar meets Amit Shah
In another related development, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday night met senior BJP leader and Home Minister Amit Shah. The meeting took place after Sanyukt Kisan Morcha in a statement rejected the government's offer to put on hold the three farm laws.

Tomar has been leading the government side in the negotiations along with Railways, Commerce and Food Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Parkash, who is an MP from Punjab.

Meanwhile, the Congress party has welcomed the farmer unions decision and dubbed the government's offer as a 'lollipop'. "Stop the daily 'jumlas' and atrocities, just simply repeal the anti-agriculture laws," Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.