Farmers Movement Archive

Govt asks farmers to come for talks, spell out objections

Farm minister Narendra Singh Tomar has urged protesting farm unions to spell out their “apprehensions” about a set of agricultural laws in greater detail so that discussions could focus on specific objections, saying farmers’ grievances lacked “clarity”.The minister also said the farmers should give up a “yes or no answer” demand on scrapping the farm laws and only a discussion on specific issues can press the talks forward and end the agitation. Thousands of farmers have hunkered down at the Capital’s borders for nearly a month to protest the laws that they say will benefit only corporates. The minister urged farmers to specify a date soon for talks, but farm unions have shown no signs yet to resume negotiations with the government.Union home minister Amit Shah said that Tomar was likely to hold talks with the protesting groups in a day or two to discuss their demands. “I am not exactly aware of the timing but Tomar is likely to meet the representatives of farmers tomorrow or the day after to discuss their demands,” Shah told a press conference in West Bengal.Farmer unions have announced a day-long relay hunger strike on Monday at all protest sites to press for the repeal of the new laws.Also Read: Farmers to start relay hunger strike from today to mount pressure on govtOn Sunday, a senior bureaucrat of the agriculture ministry wrote a letter on behalf of the farm minister to Darshan Pal, a top leader of the farm unions. Pal had sent an email on December 16 to the agriculture minister, rejecting a set of “written proposals” of the government to solve the crisis.The government responded to Pal’s email on Sunday in which it said it wasn’t clear what the farmers were trying to say. “The reply sent by you through your email to us is very brief. It is unclear whether the views expressed in that mail are your personal opinion or the collective view of all the farm organisations,” the government’s letter, signed by joint secretary Vivek Agarwal, said. HT has reviewed a copy of the letter.The bureaucrat stated that the email “lacked clarity” on the grounds on which the farm unions had rejected the government’s written proposals. The letter to the farm leader said farm unions had repeatedly spurned conciliatory gestures of the government, including concrete offers.Thousands of farmers are protesting the three laws pushed by the government in September that allow agribusinesses to trade with minimal regulation, permit traders to stockpile large quantities of food commodities for economies of scale and lay down new contract farming rules. The agitation has thrown a political challenge to the Narendra Modi-led government.Farmers say the new rules favour big corporations to whom they will lose business and gradually end the system of state-set minimum prices.Also Read: A wall of requirements set up at Chilla protest siteThe farmers decided to call off further negotiations on December 8, after a meeting with Shah.The government on December 9 sent a set of written proposals to amend some provisions of the laws for greater oversight on deregulated markets, sparing farmers penalties for stubble burning, which causes pollution, and promising to keep providing farmers subsidised power instead of direct cash transfer.Pal, who heads the Krantikari Kisan Sangathan and is a key negotiator with the government, had summarily rejected the proposals, saying the unions won’t call off their agitation until the laws are fully repealed.

Hindustan Times

21-12-2020

India