Farmers Movement Archive

SC panel lays out road map on farmers’ issue

The Supreme Court-appointed committee on farmers’ issues has decided to meet the State governments and the State Agricultural Marketing Boards along with the farm unions and cooperatives to seek their views on the farm reform laws, starting January 21. The panel has laid out a two-month road map for consultations after their first meeting on Tuesday. At the Singhu border, leaders of the protesting unions again met senior Delhi Police officials, who suggested that it might be better to hold the Republic Day tractor parade on the peripheral expressways outside Delhi rather than entering the city. The Supreme Court will hear the issue again on Wednesday, just hours before union leaders and Central Ministers meet for the 10th round of talks. The talks were supposed to be held on Tuesday, but were postponed. Portal for feedback The SC-appointed panel began work on Tuesday, chalking out a plan to hold wide-ranging consultations on the contentious farm laws, including a proposal to set up a portal to accept online feedback. Asked whether this plan was meant to compensate for the lack of consultations before the laws were introduced in Parliament, as is the usual practice, panel member Pramod Kumar Joshi said they were simply following the top court’s mandate. “That is the legislature’s part. The Supreme Court has very clearly written that we need not enter into the legislature’s part. So we will not comment on that, whether consultation was to be done or not done. That is not our view,” Mr. Joshi said.

The Hindu

2021-01-20

New Delhi