Farmers protest against the farm laws at Singhu border in New Delhi on Monday. (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna)Farmers’ Protest Live Updates: The Supreme Court will Tuesday deliver its judgment on a batch of petitions challenging the validity of the three farm laws that were enacted last September. During a hearing on the matter Monday, the apex court indicated that it could even stay the implementation of the new laws to ostensibly “facilitate” a solution.
Coming down harshly on the Centre, the bench, headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde, Monday questioned the process behind the enactment of the farm laws and expressed deep “disappointment” over the government’s handling of the farm protests. It suggested the constitution of a committee that “will tell us if the laws are in public interest”.
In response, farmer unions thanked the top court, but turned down the idea of a committee to resolve the issue. They reiterated their demand for a repeal of the laws.
Meanwhile, the Centre filed an affidavit in the Court detailing “two decades of deliberations” that went behind the framing of the laws. It underlined the “serious, sincere and constructive efforts” made by the government to engage with “the limited number” of farmers protesting the laws.
The Centre and farmer unions have engaged in eight rounds of talks so far, but failed to break the impasse. Their next meeting is scheduled on January 15. Farmers are planning to intensify their protests by entering the national capital in a tractor march on Republic Day.
In other news, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his deputy Dushyant Chautala will meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi to discuss the situation in the state. The meeting comes two days after farmers ransacked the venue of Khattar’s “kisan mahapanchayat” at a Karnal village.
Farmers celebrate after the SC hearing, at the Ghazipur border Monday. (Express Photo: Prem Nath Pandey)
Ajay Vir Jakhar, chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj, writes: "Today, the perception is that farmers are on one side of the trenches and the government on the other. In every negotiation, both sides must have a face saver for the victory to have a lasting and positive impact. In the present circumstances, it’s absolutely essential to provide a way for the farmers to return home with dignity. Before the storm begins to take a turn for the worse or begins to ebb, it is time also for the farmers to reassess and seek positive concessions, because at the end of the agitation, no one would want a status quo ante, that is inevitable otherwise." Read his opinion column here
While we wait, read Kamaldeep Singh Brar's report on how modified trollies, which once started as a convenient travel-and camp mode of transport for religious festivals in Punjab, have been the backbone of farmers' protest in Delhi. These "travelling homes" not long ago invited criticism for Punjabi youth who would spend a fortune on turning them into luxury contraptions tagging behind tractors. But the farm protest has turned this fad or an expensive hobby for some into a symbol of fight for ones rights.
The Supreme Court bench will assembly any minute now and pronounce its verdict on the farmers' protests. The bench is headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde, and comprises Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian. Stay tuned!
Haryana Police Monday booked BKU president Gurnam Singh Chaduni and 70 others for “creating disturbance in the kisan panchayat” of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar at Kaimla village of Karnal district Sunday. Police say the accused have been booked for “entering into the event venue with sticks, damaging the government property, conspiracy, assault on the government employees and instigating the people”.
After the event was cancelled, Khattar had accused Chaduni for instigating the farmers “to create ruckus in the kisan panchayat”. Read Sukhbir Siwach's report
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala will meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi Tuesday to discuss the political scenario in the state. Prior to the meeting, Dushyant will speak to JJP MLAs at his farmhouse in the national capital. Protesting farmers had ransacked the venue of Khattar's "kisan mahapanchayat" at a Karnal village on Sunday.
Sources said the BJP-JJP leaders will brief the Union Home Minister about the recent developments. Apart from Khattar and Dushyant, state BJP president Om Prakash Dhankar, state Education Minister Kanwar Pal Gujjar and JJP state president Nishan Singh will be part of the delegation, a senior BJP leader confirmed.
The exercise is seen as an attempt to keep the flock of MLAs in the alliance together amid increasing pressure over them with the farmers’ agitation dominating the political landscape in Haryana for the past one-and-a-half month, write Varinder Bhatia and Sukhbir Siwach.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has begun talking to Opposition leaders and is planning to convene a meeting to formulate a joint Opposition strategy on the farmers' protests. Her initiative came on a day NCP chief Sharad Pawar met Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and D Raja. The Left leaders said they discussed the issue of farmer protests. Read more here
How the Supreme Court operationalises its suggestion to stay the operation of the three farm laws and open fresh talks via a committee will be evident in its order Tuesday. However, a line of precedents shows that courts have been very cautious while passing interim orders to stay laws passed by the Legislature. Apurva Vishwanath recalls past judgments
The Centre filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court Monday detailing the "two decades of deliberations" that took place before the farm laws were framed. It underlined the “serious, sincere and constructive efforts” made by the government to engage with “the limited number” of farmers protesting the laws.
The affidavit said the committee “specifically consulted farmers from various states”, and hence the petitioners’ claim of not being consulted “has no basis in fact whatsoever”.
Read Ananthakrishnan G's report
Farmer unions have welcomed the Supreme Court's outburst against the Centre, but turned down the idea of a committee to resolve the issue. Representatives Monday reiterated their demand for a repeal of the farm laws, not merely a stay on them. "... we informed (our lawyers) that we are unanimously not agreeable to go before any committee that may be appointed by the SC due to stubborn attitude of the government," read a statement from the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, a joint forum of farm unions. Read Amil Bhatnagar and Raakhi Jagga's report
The Supreme Court will Tuesday pass an order on a batch of petitions challenging the validity of the three recently-enacted farm laws. In an indication to what its judgment may contain, the apex court Monday said it could stay the implementation of the laws and set up a committee to decide whether the laws are in public interest. Here are its key observations:
Read Ananthakrishnan G's report here
Senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Monday asked Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to convince the Centre to repeal the new farm laws instead of proposing to hold programmes like in Karnal.
Agitating farmers had on Sunday ransacked the venue of the 'kisan mahapanchayat' programme at Kaimla village in Karnal, where Khattar was to address the gathering to highlight the "benefits" of the three contentious central agriculture laws. The Haryana Police had used water cannons and lobbed teargas shells to prevent the farmers from marching towards Kaimla village.
The farmers, however, managed to reach the venue and damage a makeshift helipad where Khattar's chopper was to land despite elaborate security arrangements made by police.
A delegation of 500 farmers from Kerala left for Delhi on Monday by bus from here to join their counterparts at the borders of Delhi, who have been protesting against the contentious farm laws since November 26 last year.
The farmers, belonging to 'Kerala Karshaka Sangham', the state chapter of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), one of the organisations at the forefront of the protest.
AIKS vice president S Ramachandra Pillai flagged off the bus, which is expected to reach Delhi on January 14. (PTI)
Congress MPs Partap Singh Bajwa and Chhaya Verma and former Akali leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa on Monday staged a walkout from a meeting of the Standing Committee on Agriculture after the panel chairman refused to discuss Centre's three farm laws and their aftermath, sources said.
Citing the large-scale protests undertaken by various farmer unions that have seen thousands of farmers protest at the borders of Delhi for over 40 days, the three Rajya Sabha MPs raised the issue with the chairman of the standing committee. Due to the refusal of the chairman to allow the situation to be discussed by the committee, the three MPs decided to walk out of the meeting in protest, the sources said.
The panel is chaired by BJP MP P C Gaddigoudar.
The meeting held at the Parliament annexe building was to take note of the evidence of the representatives of the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying (Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying) in connection with the examination of the Subject "Status of Veterinary Services and Availability of Animal Vaccine in the Country".
The Supreme Court stated Monday that it will pronounce its order on the protesting farmers as well as the controversial farm laws tomorrow, news agency PTI reported.
The Haryana Police Monday booked BKU (Charuni) leader Gurnam Singh Charuni and dozens of other protesters for rioting and damaging public property, a day after vandalism at the venue of a farmers' event which was to be addressed by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. According to a police official in Karnal, where the ?Kisan mahapanchayat' was to be held, a case has been registered against 71 people by name, including Gurnam Singh Charuni, while 800-900 unnamed people have also been booked.
They have been booked for rioting, assault on public servant, damaging public property, criminal conspiracy and other charges, police said. The police said they are collecting evidence including video clips in connection with the incident and would take action against those who are found involved in it.
However, nobody has been arrested yet, the police official said. (PTI)
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said the "indifferent" attitude adopted by the BJP government towards farmers is a "direct insult" to them.
"The way the BJP government adopted an indifferent attitude towards farmers by being insensitive to them is a direct insult to 'annadata' (farmers). This is extremely condemnable," Yadav said in a tweet in Hindi.If they can spot smoke elsewhere, why cannot they see the fire at their own home, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.
After the venue of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s programme in Karnal district was vandalised on Sunday, the state BJP’s protest in Jalandhar too faced opposition from farmers who reached the venue but were stopped by the police.
The BJP completed its protest in Company Bagh under heavy police protection. The party was protesting against the four years’ failure of the Punjab government. The police had deployed a vehicle of water cannons and tippers carrying sandbags to stop the advance of the farmers. The entire area was cordoned off and barricades were put up all around 50 to 100 metres from the protest site. DCP Gurmit singh supervised all security arrangements.
Both the BJP and the farmers had announced their respective programmes beforehand, with farmers saying they would oppose the BJP leaders for passing three farm laws. READ MORE
Bharatiya Kisan Union president Naresh Tikait has said the central government should abandon its "stubborn" attitude and resolve the issues of farmers through dialogue.
Speaking to reporters at the BKU headquarters at Sisoli near here on Sunday evening, he said farmers are aware that the three new agri laws have been brought by the Centre "to benefit big corporates" and are "against peasants".
He also accused the government of maintaining a stubborn attitude while farmers have long been protesting on roads.
While the Centre has been claiming that making Minimum Support Price (MSP) legal for all crops will put a burden of Rs 17 lakh crore on the government exchequer annually, there are economists and experts who are not buying this argument.
The MSP of 23 crops is determined by the Commission for Agriculture Cost and Price (CACP) every year, but only a few crops including wheat and paddy are procured on MSP and the rest are purchased by private players.
Along with cancellation of the three farm laws, making MSP legal for all crops is another major demand of the farmers protesting at the Delhi border. READ MORE
The Supreme Court Monday pulled up the Centre for its handling of the farmers protest against the new farm laws saying it is “extremely disappointed” with the way negotiations between them were going and it will constitute a committee headed by a former Chief Justice of India to resolve the impasse.
Indicating amply that it may go to the extent of staying the implementation of the contentious farm laws, the apex court refused to grant extra time to the Centre to explore the possibility of amicable solution saying it has already granted the government a “long rope”.
“We have given you long rope, Mr Attorney General, please don''t lecture us on patience,” a bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde said. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, that the top court has made “harsh observations” regarding handling of the situation by the government.
“That was the most innocuous factual thing for us to say,” the bench said. The apex court, which said it will pass orders on the issue concerning farm laws and farmers'' protest in part in the matter, asked the parties to suggest two-three names of former CJIs including former CJI R M Lodha who can head the apex court-appointed panel.