By Ananya Sharma
Dialogue with farmers to continue on December 5- Narendra Singh Tomar
New Delhi: The much awaited meeting between the farmers and the Government remained inconclusive today despite government’s repeated assurance that Minimum Support Price will continue as it is now. Adding yet another twist to the story, Akali Dal leader and former Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal returned his Padma Vibhushan over “betrayal of farmers”.
In a related development, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh too met Union Minister Amit Shah today and requested the latter and all the protesting farmers to find the solution on this issue as soon as possible as the protest was impacting Punjab’s economy and also to the security of the nation. He said that a common ground should be found and the two sides (government and farmers) should not take firm positions on this matter; they should be flexible whatever the conclusion of the meeting came out.
While farmers continued their agitation for the eighth day today in protest of the new farm laws, the government claimed that the talks were held in a “cordial and frank” atmosphere. “The Unions have agreed to further participate in the next meeting on 5th December,” Tomar told reporters.
At least 40 farmer leaders, owing allegiance to different unions, had met Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, Railways and Commerce Piyush Goel and Minister of State for Commerce Som Prakash for the fourth round of meeting since Tuesday at Vigyan Bhawan today.
Senior officials from the Agriculture Ministry and the Ministry of Food Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution also participated in the dialogue.
At the outset of the talks Union Agriculture Minister reiterated the Government’s commitment to the welfare of the farmers. He requested the representatives of the Unions to present their point of view and the flag the issues which they felt were contentious. The representatives of the farmers unions raised the question of the constitutional validity of the three laws.
The Government side explained the Constitutional provisions under which the Central Government legislated these laws. The farmers brought out issues related to the APMCs – They said that there has to be a level playing field between APMCs and Private Markets and Trade Yards. They also said that there is a need for proper registration of Trade outside APMCs.
The issue of protecting the land of farmers in the Contract Farming Act was also raised.The farmers unions also requested that the MSP system should be made legal. Regarding dispute resolution system in the new Farms Acts the unions said that there is a need for an alternate dispute resolution system. The need for registration of contract farming was also flagged.
The Secretary Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Sanjay Agarwal gave a detailed description of the Farms Acts and the measures taken by the Ministry of Agriculture for the welfare of farmers and those measures taken to benefit agriculture during the lockdown period to keep the supply chains active. He said that the Farm Acts have been framed keeping in mind the farmers welfare.
Agriculture Minister Tomar assured the Unions that the Minimum support price will remain and therefore the farmers should not fear that it will go away. He thanked the Farmers organisations for flagging their concerns and assured them that the dialogue will continue.
“People have reservations on MSP (Minimum Support Price). I would like to reiterate that the MSP system will continue and we will assure farmers about it,” Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told the farmer leaders. Since the government was already holding talks with them to find a solution to the present confrontation, the minister appealed to the farmers to end their agitation “so that people of Delhi don’t face problems that they are facing due to protests”.
“The issue is about the complete roll back of laws. Not only one but discussions will also be held on several issues. Farmers want that the laws be taken back. Government wants to talk about MSP and amendment to the Acts,” Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait, said. According to him the talks had made “a little progress. “Government has given indications over MSP. It seems that their stand over MSP will be fine,” he added.
The farmers listed all “drawbacks” of the new agri laws before the government. Farmer leader Baldev Singh Sirsa claimed even the ministers conceded that there were drawbacks “and they will make amendments”. Sirsa said the farmers made it clear to the ministers that amendments will not work and they wanted the new laws to be repealed.
Farmers Leader declined the lunch, tea and water offered by the government during the almost eight-hour long meeting, sources said.
