Govt tells farmer leaders a committee could be formed to deliberate on the demands regarding farm laws
New Delhi, Dec 30: The Centre and farmer leaders are currently holding talks at the Vigyan Bhavan in Delhi over the three farm laws. The sixth round of talks between the two sides are being held after a considerable gap. The meeting between three union ministers and representatives of 41 farmer groups began at around 2.30 pm at Vigyan Bhawan.
Tomar
is
heading
the
government
side,
which
also
included
Goyal
and
Parkash,
who
is
an
MP
from
Punjab.
The
sixth
round
of
talks
between
the
two
sides
is
being
held
after
a
huge
gap.
The
fifth
round
of
talks
was
held
on
December
5.
The
protesting
farmer
unions
are
sticking
to
their
position
that
the
discussions
will
only
be
on
the
modalities
of
repealing
the
three
new
agri
laws
and
giving
a
legal
guarantee
on
the
MSP
among
other
issues.
On
Monday,
the
Centre
invited
the
unions
for
the
next
round
of
talks
on
December
30
on
all
relevant
issues
to
find
a
"logical
solution"
with
an
"open
mind"
to
the
prolonged
impasse
over
the
three
new
agri
laws
that
were
enacted
in
September.
Farmers-Centre meet underway: Will be decisive, says Minister
But in its letter on Tuesday, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the umbrella organisation which represents the farmer unions, said the modalities for repealing the three contentious laws and a legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) must be part of the agenda.
The sixth round of talks was originally scheduled for December 9 but it was called off 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 these farmer unions in which it had suggested 7-8 amendments to the new laws and written assurance on the MSP procurement system. The government has ruled out a repeal of the three agri laws.
Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, are protesting at various borders of the national capital for more than a month against these three new laws.
The government has presented these laws as major agriculture reforms aimed at helping farmers and increasing their income, but the protesting unions fear that the new legislations have left them at the mercy of big corporates by weakening the MSP and mandi systems.
Enacted in September, the three farm laws have been projected by the central government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middleman and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.
However, the protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of MSP and do away with the mandi system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.
The government has repeatedly asserted that the MSP and mandi systems will stay and has accused the Opposition of misleading the farmers.