New Delhi: The Centre and farmers are set to hold the sixth round of talks today over the contentious farm laws. The meeting, expected to take place at 2 PM, is likely to be attended by 40 protesting farm unions.
Yesterday, Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Piyush Goyal had met senior BJP leader and Home Minister Amit Shah. Sources said they discussed and finalised the government’s position for the Wednesday meeting. Agriculture Minister Tomar, Railway Minister Goyal and MoS Commerce and Industry Som Parkash have been representing the Centre in dialogues with the farmers.
Ahead of talks, protesting farmer unions wrote to the Centre saying the discussion will only be on the modalities of repealing the three legislation and giving a legal guarantee on the MSP. In its letter on Tuesday, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, which represents 40 farmer unions, said the discussion will be only on modalities for the repeal of three farm laws and a legal guarantee on MSP.
It has been over a month now that thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and parts of Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at Delhi’s borders seeking repeal of the three farm laws enacted in September. They have threatened to intensify their stir in the coming days if their demands are not fulfilled.
So far, five rounds of formal talks have been held between the two sides. The last discussion was held on December 5, while the sixth round of talks originally scheduled for December 9 was called off a day after an informal meeting of Home Minister Shah with some union leaders failed to reach any breakthrough. The government had, however, followed up Shah’s meeting with a draft proposal sent to the unions in which it had suggested 7-8 amendments to the new laws and written assurance on the MSP procurement system. It has ruled out a repeal of the three agri laws.
(With agency inputs)