Farmers Union to review progress on promises made by Centre to farmers

New Delhi, Mar 14: The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) met on Monday to review the progress made so far by the Centre on the promises made to farmers, including setting up a panel on MSP, and decide the future course of action.

The closed-door meeting was held at the Gandhi Peace Foundation at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg.

The SKM had spearheaded a year-long agitation against the Centre's three farm laws. It had suspended the stir on December 9 last year after the government revoked the contentious laws and agreed to consider its six other demands, including withdrawal of cases registered against farmers during the agitation, a legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) and compensation for kin of farmers who died during the protest.

According to an SKM functionary, leaders of all farmers' unions that are constituents of the SKM will participate in the meeting.

The agenda of the meeting is to review the progress made on the assurance letter given by the government on December 9, 2021, to the SKM, the national action plan on the issue of MSP and in the Lakhimpur Kheri case, an SKM leader said on Sunday.

A scheme for building a memorial for the farmers who died during the agitation against the agricultural laws will also be discussed during the meeting, he said.

"A roadmap will be decided to pressure the central government to ensure a legal guarantee on minimum support price and the fulfilment of other demands," he added.

Internal issues of the SKM such as rules and regulations, the current status of funds and a decision on farmers' unions that contested the Punjab Assembly polls will also be discussed during the meeting.

The SKM had observed January 31 as "Day of Betrayal" to protest against the Centre for not fulfilling any of the promises on the basis of which the farmers' agitation was suspended.

It had said it would be "left with no option but to resume the agitation" if the promises made were not fulfilled at the earliest.