New Delhi: The 11 round of talks between protesting farmer unions and three central ministers got underway here Friday. The meeting is taking place to break the nearly two-month-long deadlock on the three new farm laws. The farmer unions have stuck to their demand that the farm laws have to withdrawn completely.
The 10th round of meeting was held Wednesday. During the meeting the government yielded some ground in its bid to end the farmers’ protest on various border points of the national capital. The Centre had offered to put on hold the three laws for 12-18 months. It also proposed to set up a joint committee to find solutions.
However, the farmer unions Thursday rejected the government’s offer. They remained stuck to their two major demands – repeal of the three farm laws and legal guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP). Farmers group said they will continue protest and also hold tractor rally January 26, the Republic Day.
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Railways, Commerce and Food Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Parkash are holding the talks with the representatives of 41 farmer unions at the Vigyan Bhawan here.
Also read: Farmer unions reject government’s proposal to put farm laws on hold
“In a full general body meeting of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha…, the proposal put forth by the government…Was rejected. A full repeal of three central farm acts and enacting a legislation for remunerative MSP for all farmers were reiterated as the pending demands of the movement,” Samkyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of protesting unions, had said in a statement Thursday.
Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, are protesting at various border points of Delhi for close to eight weeks against the three farm laws.
Farmer groups have alleged these laws will end the mandi and MSP procurement systems. They will leave the farmers at the mercy of big corporates, even as the government has rejected these apprehensions as misplaced.