The government and the farmers’ unions will meet again on January 4 to discuss the two pending demands of repealing the three contentious agri-reform laws and provision of a legal guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP) for procurement.
The two sides, in the last meeting on December 30, reached some common ground and agreed on two demands – removing stubble burning penalties on farmers and withdrawing provisions in the draft Electricity Amendment Bill, 2020, which intend to change the mode of subsidy payment to farmers.
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The Samyukt Kisan Union, the umbrella body of farmers’ unions protesting on Delhi borders has threatened that the farmers will lead a tractor parade into Delhi, and across country, on January 26, if the remaining two demands are not met. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations on January 26 this year.
“If the demands are not met by the government till January 26, the farmers will peacefully and non-violently lead a trolley parade into Delhi. Similar marches will be held in all state capitals and district headquarters,” Darshan Pal, president of Krantikari Kisan Union, one of the protesting farmers organisations said.
A day before the talks, agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who is leading centre’s side, met defence minister Rajnath Singh on January 3 and discussed the government strategy to resolve the crisis.Tomar discussed with Singh “all possible options” to find a “middle path” to resolve the crisis, news agency PTI quoted sources.
Singh, who served as agriculture minister in the erstwhile Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet, has emerged as a key troubleshooter and is working mostly behind the scenes on this issue.
On January 1, Tomar had told PTI that the government is hopeful of a “positive outcome” at its January 4 meeting with farmers’ unions but refrained from predicting whether the seventh round of talks will be the last one.
The farm union leaders have threatened many other actions, too. Some groups said they will also announce dates for shutting all malls, petrol pumps in Haryana to press for the pending two demands. Also, Farmers protesting at Shahjahanpur on the Haryana-Rajasthan border will move towards Delhi, Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav said.
The sixth round of talks between the two sides concluded on December 30 with a consensus on two of the four demands raised by the protesting farmers.
The government said the meeting was decisive. Farmers' union leaders said it was half victory hoping that the other two demands will be accepted in the January 4 meeting.
The meeting on December 30 was the first round of talks between the two sides since December 5. The earlier round of talks scheduled for December 9 was called off a day after an informal meeting of home minister Amit Shah with some Union leaders failed to reach any breakthrough.
For more than a month now, thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and parts of Uttar Pradesh, are camping along Delhi borders seeking complete repeal of the three agri-reform laws, among other demands.
The Centre has projected these farm reform laws as major agriculture reforms aimed at helping farmers and increasing their income, but the protesting unions fear that the new legislation has left them at the mercy of big corporates by weakening the MSP and mandi systems.
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