The farmer leader said that lakhs of tractors are expected to join the tractor parade from different parts of the country. (File)The eighth round of negotiations between the protesting farmer unions and the Centre on Friday ended on an inconclusive note, with farmers sticking to their demand of repeal of the farm laws and the Centre insisting to limit the talks to contentious clauses. Holding their ground during meeting, the farmers on Friday told the government their “ghar wapsi” can take place only after “law wapsi“. However, the Centre ruled out a complete withdrawal of Acts, asserting the laws have been welcomed by a large section of farmers in other states across the country, and asked the unions to think about the interests of the entire country.
The next round of talks is likely to be held on January 15.
Ahead of the talks, Tomar said he was hopeful a solution would be found. “I am hopeful that talks will be held in a positive atmosphere and a solution will be found. During discussions, each side has to take steps to reach a solution,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. The seventh round of talks remained inconclusive Monday over two key demands — repeal of the newly enacted laws and provision of legal guarantee on the minimum support price.
On Thursday, Tomar met religious leader Baba Lakha Singh, one of the heads of the Nanaksar Sikh sect based in Punjab. Singh, who has been organising langar at the protest sites, said he wished to mediate between the government and protesting farmers. While Tomar played down the meeting, farmer unions said the religious leader wasn’t speaking for them. A day before the talks, thousands of farmers also held a tractor march, a “dress rehearsal” for Republic Day on January 26, when they plan to hold a bigger march towards Delhi. Farmers say over 5,000 tractors rode towards the eastern and western peripheral expressways from Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur and Palwal.
Women being trained to drive tractors, on the Jind-Patiala national highway on Monday. (Express photo)
On a day farmers are holding the eighth round of talks with the government, the Congress on Friday said there is no solution except repealing the three farm laws. The Congress also stepped up the offensive against the government by launching an online campaign in support of the farmers' agitation, with party leader Rahul Gandhi accusing the government of betraying the farmers for benefitting their 'corporate friends'. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also met the party's MPs and MLAs from Punjab who are sitting in protest at Jantar Mantar demanding repeal of the farm laws. "The only solution is to repeal the three farm laws. There is no other solution," she told the protesting legislators during her meeting with them. --PTI
The eighth round of negotiations between the protesting farmer unions and the Centre over the recently-enacted agriculture laws ended on an inconclusive note Friday, with farmers sticking to their key demand of repeal of the farm laws and the Centre insisting to limit the talks to contentious clauses. The next round of talks is likely to be held on January 15.
Holding their ground during meeting, the 41-member representative group of the agitating farmers told the government their “ghar wapsi” (return to home) can take place only after “law wapsi“ (repeal of laws) whereas the Centre ruled out a complete withdrawal of Acts. It asserted that a large section of farmers in other states across the country have welcomed the laws and asked the unions to think about the interests of the entire country. Read highlights of today's farmers-Centre talks here
CITU members, along with Aanganwari workers, tried to cross the police barricades to enter Mini secratariat during their protest rally in support of farmers in Ludhiana.
If repealing of laws was only issue, a solution would've been reached: Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar after meeting Amit Shah
Stating that Friday's meeting remained inconclusive, Agriculture Minister Narednra Singh Tomar said, "The government urged (the farmers) that if the farmer unions give an option other than repealing, we'll consider it."
Simply want a repeal of the new farm laws: BKU
The eighth round of negotiations between the protesting farmer unions and the Centre on Friday ended on an inconclusive note with farmers sticking to their demand of repeal of the farm laws and the Centre insisting to limit the talks to contentious clauses. Holding their ground during meeting, the farmers on Friday told the government their “ghar wapsi” can take place only after “law wapsi“. However, the Centre ruled out the complete withdrawal of Acts, asserting the laws have been welcomed by a large section of farmers in other states across the country, and asked the unions to think about the interests of the entire country.
Holding their ground during the eighth round of meeting with the Centre, the farmers on Friday told the government that their "ghar wapsi" can take place only after "law wapsi". However, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar insisted the talks must be limited to contentious clauses and ruled out a complete withdrawal of Acts. In a fresh round of negotiations with the 41 representatives of agitating peasants, the government asserted the farm reform laws have been welcomed by a large section of farmers in other states across the country and asked the unions to think about the interests of the entire country.
Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Piyush Goyal at Vigyan Bhawan.
In yet another effort towards breaking the deadlock over the recently-enacted farm laws, a meeting between 41 representatives of protesting farmer unions and the central government is underway at Vigyan Bhawan. Ahead of the eighth round oftalks, Tomar said he was hopeful a solution would be found. “I am hopeful that talks will be held in a positive atmosphere and a solution will be found. During discussions, each side has to take steps to reach a solution,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
The latest round of talks to be held at Vigyan Bhavan at 2 pm on Friday is crucial as the previous meeting on January 4 remained inconclusive. There was some breakthrough in the sixth round of talks on December 30 when the government conceded to two demands of the agitating farmers pertaining to power subsidy and stubble burning. The previous rounds of talks had failed to make any headway.
Congress MPs and leaders who are protesting against Centre's three farm laws at Jantar Mantar meet party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at Rahul Gandhi's residence.
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar says he is hopeful a solution will be found during the eighth round of talks today. "I am hopeful that talks will be held in a positive atmosphere and a solution will be found. During discussions, each side has to take steps to reach a solution," he tells news agency ANI.
Today's talks between farmers and the government is set to be held at the Vigyan Bhavan at 2 pm, reports PTI. The last round of talks, held last Monday, failed to break the deadlock over the contentious farm laws, enacted in September.
Former Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Thursday said the Punjab BJP was trying to defame the farmers' protest by accusing peasants farmers of indulging in politics. "After several rounds of meetings if ministers are unable to resolve the farmers’ issues then Prime Minister Narendra Modi should directly talk to protesting farmers," she said.
"It is strange that farmers are spending nights in open during the chilling winters and even then their demands are falling on deaf ears. Farmers are dying at the doorstep of the central government while protesting for their demands. Who will be responsible for deaths of ‘annadaatas’ of the country?" she added. Read more here
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) claimed 40 of the 54 farmers who died during the protests at Delhi were from the party cadre even as farmer union leaders rubbished the statement and pointed out how Akali leaders had not even been allowed to attend the last rites of these peasants. In an interaction with The Indian Express, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said his party workers were heavily involved in the ongoing agitation for the repeal of the three central farm laws.
“Our rank and file is at Delhi borders protesting against farm laws, not as SAD workers but as farmers,” Sukhbir told Raakhi Jagga. “Our Youth Akali Dal workers have made a tent city at the borders. A number of them are party office-bearers at the block and village level,” he claimed, calling the agitation a public movement. “It hardly matters which political party you belong to”.
Following three suicides and an attempted suicide by farmers protesting at Delhi’s borders, counselling services are now being provided at Singhu, and will begin at Ghazipur in the next few days. On Thursday, the counsellors came to the aid of a person from Kurukshetra who slit his wrist, escaping with superficial injuries, who has now been employed in ‘seva (voluntary service)’ to keep him occupied. Read Aranya Shankar's report
On minimum support price (MSP), the most important of the many contentious issues, the government position is riddled with so many irresolvable contradictions that a mere amendment — and less so an assurance on maintaining MSP — cannot resolve the matter. MSP, public procurement system (PPS) and a strict time-bound purchase of output brought to the PPS (represented by Agricultural Produce Markets Committee, or APMC, mandi yards) form a package deal. If you take out one aspect, the deal falls apart, write Pritam Singh and Shruti Bhogal. Read their opinion column here
Thousands of farmers Thursday took to the eastern and western peripheral expressways in their tractors — via Ghaziabad and Manesar. The tractor march, farmers said, was a “dress rehearsal” for Republic Day, when they plan to hold a bigger march towards Delhi. "Together, we will protest against the government and show that we are united. We aren’t going to back down,” said Brar Singh (51) from Sangrur in Punjab, who has been at Singhu for a month. Read Jignasa Sinha and Ashna Butani's report
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday met religious leader Baba Lakha Singh, one of the heads of the Nanaksar Sikh sect based in Punjab. While Baba Lakha Singh, who has been organising langar at the protest sites, said he wished to mediate between the government and the protesting farmers, Tomar played down the meeting and the farm unions said the religious leader wasn’t speaking for them. Read Harikishan Sharma and Kamaldeep Singh Brar's report
The eighth round of talks between representatives of farmer unions and the central government will be held Friday to try and break the deadlock over the recently-enacted agricultural laws. The talks will be held between a ministerial committee, including Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Food Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Prakash, and 41 representatives of farm organisations.
A day before the eighth round of talks between the government and the protesting farmer leaders, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar Thursday said the government is ready to consider any proposal other than repeal of three farm laws, the key demand of the agitating peasants. The minister also denied giving any proposal to Punjab’s Nanaksar Gurudwara head Baba Lakha, a religious leader, for ending the stalemate. “I cannot say anything right now. In fact, it depends on what issues that will come up for discussion in the meeting,” PTI quoted Tomar as telling the media when asked about the possible outcome of the Friday meeting.
A day before the Centre's next round of talks with farmer unions protesting against new agri laws, Punjab BJP leaders Surjit Kumar Jyani and Harjit Singh Grewal met Union Home Minister Amit Shah here on Thursday. After the meeting, Jyani told reporters that the farmer unions should not be adamant on their demand for repeal of the three farm laws. He also alleged that Left leaders have entered into the movement and do not want the matter to be resolved. --PTI
A day before the government's eighth round of talks with the protesting farmer leaders, SAD leader and former Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said the Centre has lost the trust of the entire farming community and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should directly talk to farmers who are registering their protests at the doorstep of the national capital, news agency PTI reported.
In an interview to PTI, Badal, leader of the ruling BJP's erstwhile ally, said, "Farmers are dying at the doorstep of the central government while protesting for their demands. Who will be responsible for deaths of 'annadaatas' of the country?" Badal said. Talking about the ongoing meetings between protesting farmers and Centre, Badal said after seven rounds of meetings nothing concrete has come out. "After several rounds of meetings if ministers are unable to resolve the farmers' issues then Prime Minister Narendra Modi should directly talk to protesting farmers," Badal said.
Ahead of 8th round of talks between the government and representatives of farmer unions, religious leader Baba Lakkhawal met Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar at his residence in Delhi.
Ahead of 8th round of talks between the Govt and farm unions, a group of farmers from Haryana met Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar demanding completion of SYL canal. The group demanded its 11 members should be allowed to participate in the Jan 8th meeting.
Farmers moving to KMP from Tikri border of Delhi. Similar tractor marches are being undertaken in other parts of Haryana too.
Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath on Thursday alleged that the Centre wants to privatise the farm sector with its three new agri-marketing laws, which are being opposed by thousands of cultivators. Talking to reporters here while announcing the launch of his party's protest against the government and an awakening drive for farmers which will continue till January 23, Nath claimed the "RSS and the Bharatiya Jana Sangh were votaries ofprivatisation since the beginning". "They (the two organisations) also opposed the nationalisation of banks carried out by former prime minister Indira Gandhi," the former state chief minister claimed. "The (present) government wants to privatise the farm sector with the three agri-marketing laws," he alleged. --PTI
Visuals from Bathinda-Dabwali Road.
The Supreme Court Thursday expressed concern over large gatherings of farmers protesting against the new farm laws at Delhi borders and asked the Centre whether they were “protected” against the spread of COVID-19. The top was hearing a plea seeking various reliefs including CBI probe into the matter related to assembly of people at Anand Vihar Bus Terminal and the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizammudin Markaz in the national capital after the nationwide lockdown was announced last year to contain the pandemic. “The same problem is going to arise in farmers' agitation. I do not know if farmers are protected from COVID. So, the same problem is going to arise. It is not that everything is over,” said Chief Justice S A Bobde, heading a bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian.
The farmers’ agitation, until now, has been about Punjab and Haryana, wheat and paddy, and concerns over the future of minimum support price (MSP)-based procurement and agricultural produce market committee mandis.
But there’s one elephant in the room: Sugarcane. It is a crop grown more in Uttar Pradesh, not sold in mandis and, moreover, has a state advised price (SAP) that is statutory. Unlike MSP, sugar mills are legally bound to pay it.
Most farmers protesting at Ghazipur on the Delhi-UP border — as against those camping at Singhu and Tikri bordering Haryana — are sugarcane growers. But not withstanding the legal requirement for mills to pay SAP within 14 days of cane delivery, many haven’t received money even for the crop they supplied in the 2019-20 sugar season (October-September). And the Yogi Adityanath-led UP government is yet to announce the current season’s SAP, despite mills undertaking crushing operations since end-October.
With the focus of farmers protesting at Delhi’s borders shifting from tackling severe cold to heavy rainfall, various new measures are being taken at the protest sites.
On Wednesday, school-buses of Delhi’s Guru Harkrishan Public Schools, run under the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), were seen parked at several points of the Singhu protest site. Inside the buses, the seats had been removed to create spacious spaces; the floors had been covered with rugs on top of which mattresses were laid; and cloth had been draped over the windows to create privacy. These school-buses began operating as night shelters for protesters on Tuesday night.
“There are 25 such buses across the protest sites, and one of these is an AC bus which is only for women. Around ten people can sleep in each bus. Apart from being a private place for people to sleep, it can also provide them a refuge from the rains,” said Prem Singh, an official at the DSGMC.
A day after meeting the Prime Minister in Delhi, the head of BJP’s 8-member panel formed for talks with farmers, Surjeet Kumar Jyani, said that ongoing farmers’ protest was a “leaderless agitation”.
“Agitations have happened in the past too. But every agitation had one leader – Chaudhary Devi Lal, Mahendra Singh Tikait, Anna Hazare and many others. However, in this agitation, we are not able to find one single leader who can talk on behalf of others and the rest have trust in him. It is a leaderless agitation,” Jyani told The Indian Express.
He added, “Whenever we try to talk to one union leader, he says to talk to the other person. They don’t take decisions on each other’s behalf. So for that reason, one leader needs to be chosen.”
Bharati Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) chief Joginder Singh Ugrahan said that farmers participated in the march with over 3,500 tractors and trolleys. According to the protesting farm unions, this is just "rehearsal" for their proposed January 26 tractor parade that will be move into the national capital from different parts of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. Farmers started the tractor march around 11 am and moved towards Kundli–Manesar–Palwal Expressway amid heavy deployment of Delhi Police and Haryana Police personnel. The tractor march, led by senior BKU leader Rakesh Tikait, moved towards Palwal.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday ordered dropping of Section 307 (attempt to murder) from the FIR against protestors who dumped cow dung outside BJP ex-minister Tikshan Sud’s house.
In a statement, the Chief Minister said that the SHO had gone overboard in registering a case under Section 307 of the IPC. “There was no attempt to murder,” he said, referring to the Hoshiarpur incident, in which a group of protestors had unloaded a trolley full of cow dung in front of former Punjab minister Tikshan Sud’s residence.
Expressing deep concern over the manner in which BJP leaders and workers were being targeted and threatened with physical harm, senior BJP leadership hit out at CM Amarinder Singh for toning down of the FIR against those who threatened BJP leader Tikshan Sud in Hoshiarpur.
In a series of tweets, the Delhi Traffic Police said Singhu, Auchandi, Piau Maniyari, Saboli and Mangesh borders were closed for traffic movement. "Please take alternate route via Lampur Safiabad, Palla & Singhu school toll tax borders. Traffic has been diverted from Mukarba & GTK road. Please avoid Outer Ring Road, GTK Road & NH-44. "The Chilla and Ghazipur borders are closed for traffic coming from Noida & Ghaziabad to Delhi because of farmer protests. Please take alternate route for coming to Delhi via Anand Vihar, DND, Bhopra & Loni Borders," the traffic police said. It said Tikri and Dhansa borders are also closed for traffic movement. "Jhatikara Border is open only for LMV (Cars/Light Motor Vehicles), two wheelers and pedestrian movement," another tweet read.
The tractor march on Thursday is a "rehearsal" for January 26, when farmers are planning to move into the national capital from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The parade will coincide with Republic Day. Farmers said around 3,000 tractors will take part in Thursday's march, and their protests will intensify in the coming days.
Thousands of farmers are taking part in a tractor march today. They will ride from the Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders in the national capital, and Rewasan in Haryana, to the Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways, where they will meet midway. Here are some Express photos of the march:
The Jamhoori Kisan Union has been focusing on mobilising support from landless farm labourers in Pathankot district, a stronghold of the BJP, for the ongoing protest against Centre’s farm laws at Delhi borders.
Under Gurdaspur Parliamentary constituency, represented by BJP MP and Bollywood actor Sunny Deol, Pathankot has shown least response to the ongoing farm agitation. In this district, BJP is holding small meetings and distributing literature to mobilise support in favour of the farm laws, and has termed those who are opposing the same as “anti-Modi”.
“Landowners in Pathankot are mostly Rajput or Mahajans, natural supporters of BJP. They stick with party ideology and majority of them are not responding to the agitation. I remember the time when these farmers had rushed to us to launch an agitation against possibility of removal of subsidy on power to the agriculture sector. But now they are not feeling threatened. The only reason behind this unresponsive behaviour of farmers in Pathankot is that BJP and RSS are lobbying strongly in favour of farm Bills,” said Jamhoori Kisan Union leader Shiv Kumar.
The tractor march comes a day ahead of another round of talks with the government. The seventh round of talks remained inconclusive Monday over two key demands — repeal of the newly enacted laws and provision of legal guarantee on the minimum support price — with the two sides drawing the hard line on their respective positions.
Thousands of farmers — protesting against the three farm laws — will participate in a tractor rally on the Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways today, as a “rehearsal” for January 26. Police estimate around 2,500 tractors will be on the expressway from 11 am to 4 pm when the march will take place. In other parts of Haryana too, farmers will undertake tractor marches Thursday to oppose the three farm laws.