Farmers' protest: Farm leaders, govt all set to hold 5th round of talks today

New Delhi, Dec 05: Several farm leaders and government officials are set to hold talks again today. This will be their fifth round of talks to end the deadlock over the new farm laws. According to reports, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Food Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State of Commerce and Industry Som Parkash, who will be present in the meeting, will deliberate on the points that farmer leaders had raised and offer possible solutions.

It is also said that the government has worked out possible solutions to the provisions on which farm leaders have raised objections. It hopes to break the deadlock on Saturday so that the farmers' protest ends at the earliest.

On Thursday, Tomar had assured 40 farmer union leaders that the government is open to considering ways to strengthen APMC mandis, create a level-playing field with proposed private markets, and provide a provision for approaching higher courts for dispute resolution, while asserting that procurement at minimum support price (MSP) will continue.

But the other side stuck to their demand of repealing the three "hastily-passed" farm laws, saying that the legislations with several loopholes and deficiencies cannot be amended.

However, it needs to be seen whether farmer leaders will accept solutions offered by the government and end the protest due to which Delhi's border points remained choked as thousands of farmers from Haryana, Punjab, and other states held demonstrations for the ninth consecutive day.