Farmers during a tractor march (Express Photo: Gajendra Yadav)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.
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