Farmers Protest Latest Updates: Making another attempt to convince them to call off their agitation, the Central government on Thursday wrote another letter to the protesting farmers and urged them to come for talks with the government for an amicable solution to the farm laws. Notably, the letter from the Centre comes a day after the farmers asked the government to stop repeating meaningless amendments and offer a concrete proposal.
According to updates, the letter has been addressed to the Sankyukt Kisan Morcha, which is an umbrella body of 40 farm unions. The Centre in the letter said it is open for talks with all farmers and that it is its responsibility to ensure all voices are heard. However, the Centre has also mentioned that it has already clarified its stance on the essential commodities act.
The letter further stated that the Centre has given written assurances on all the issues raised by the farm unions in past meetings. However, the Centre is not likely to repealing the three farm bills as demanded by the protesting farmers.
Govt writes to agitating farmers, asking them to decide the date and time for the next round of talks. "Govt is committed to reaching logical solutions of the issues raised by you," it reads. pic.twitter.com/tBglPwi8fs
— ANI (@ANI) December 24, 2020
In its letter, the Centre has made a clear mention that the three bills have nothing to do with the minimum support price (MSP) issue for procurement, and the Centre will continue to procure crops on MSP despite the new laws.
On Wednesday, the farmers asked the government to not repeat such meaningless amendments to the new farm laws and come up with a concrete proposal in writing for another round of talks.
Reading out a reply to the government’s talks offer during a press conference, farmer leaders said they are ready for dialogue with an open mind if they get a concrete proposal, but made it clear they will not accept anything less than a complete repeal of the three agriculture laws and legal guarantee for the Minimum Support Price (MSP).
The sixth round of talks on December 9 was cancelled following a deadlock with the farmer unions refusing to budge from their demand for repealing the three laws.
Enacted in September, the three farm laws have been projected by the central government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country.