Farmers Movement Archive

Ordinance to junk laws on farmers’ agenda now

Farmer unions will urge the group of ministers to consider taking the ordinance route to repeal the three farm acts, besides flagging the private member's bill introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2018 as a template to meet their second demand on extending legal guarantee to the MSP mechanism. The unions will have a fresh round of talks with the government on Monday. Though the government had asked the unions to suggest an "alternative to repeal of laws" during their meeting on December 30, farmer leaders continued to stick to their demands with their umbrella body, AIKSCC, on Sunday, broaching the idea of an ordinance. Read AlsoFarmers' unions plan to hold their own parades in Delhi on Republic Day, say it's time for decisive actionNEW DELHI: Delivering an ultimatum to the government ahead of next round of talks on January 4, the farmers’ unions opposed to the central farm laws on Saturday said the farmers, stationed at Delhi borders, would be compelled to march into the Capital and hold ‘Kisan Gantantra Diwas Parade’ (FarmersUnderlining that the success of Monday's talks will depend "entirely on the repeal of the three farm acts", the working group of the AIKSCC said it can be done by an ordinance, which is neither time consuming, nor complicated. They suggested that the ordinance, if promulgated, could well be replaced by repeal acts during the Parliament session. Read AlsoFarmers' unions threaten to intensify protests if January 4 talks fail to meet their core demandsNEW DELHI: Seeking to mount pressure on the government ahead of the upcoming round of talks on Monday, the farmers’ unions on Friday said they would further intensify their protests during next two weeks, beginning January 6, if their core demands - repeal of three central farm laws and legal"If the Narendra Modi government has the will, it is a matter of only a day or two. The main hurdle is the political will of the BJP-led NDA government," said the AIKSCC in a statement on the eve of the talks, while noting that the government's "quest for an alternative remedy is a sure recipe for failure". On the question of legal guarantee to the MSP, farmer leaders are learnt to have discussed the 2018 private member’s bill introduced in LS by then MP Raju Shetti of Swabhimani Paksha as a ready-reckoner to take forward the talks. “The Centre can easily adopt the bill as a government bill with certain modifications without tinkering with its essence, where it says no one can buy crops below MSP. The government can change other provisions while ensuring legal guarantee to MSP,” Shetti told TOI on Sunday. He has planned to lead a big contingent of farmers from his home state to Delhi for the unions’ Republic Day agenda when they would try to enter Delhi if the government doesn’t meet their demands by then. Shetti said, “The government under its ‘one nation one market’ approach can easily bring a law, prohibiting anyone from buying below the MSP.”

The Times of India

2021-01-04

India