 "Explained: What is the Centre’s five-year plan for farmers?")
Thousands of farmers are camping at the Punjab-Haryana border, with layers of barricades erected to halt their “Delhi Chalo” march to the National Capital.
The agitating farmers from Punjab have raised various demands, including an ordinance on ensuring legal guarantees for MSPs and loan waivers.
On Sunday evening, Union Ministers Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal, and Nityanand Rai reached the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration in Chandigarh, Sector 26, for the fourth round of talks with the farmers’ representatives.
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, who batted for a legal MSP for crops, had also joined the meeting, which began at 8.15 pm and ended at around 1 am on Monday.
During the meeting, the Centre proposed some ideas, following which the farmers put their march on hold, general secretary of the Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee Sarwan Singh Pandher told the reporters.
What did the government propose?
According to PTI, the panel of three Union ministers has proposed the buying of pulses, maize, and cotton crops by government agencies at minimum support prices for five years.
“Cooperative societies like the NCCF (National Cooperative Consumers Federation) and NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India) will enter into a contract with those farmers who grow ’tur dal’, ‘urad dal’, ‘masoor dal’ or maize for buying their crop at MSP for the next five years,” said Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.
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View All“There will be no limit on the quantity (purchased) and a portal will be developed for this,” he added.
It will save Punjab’s farming, improve the groundwater table, and save the land from getting barren, which is already under stress, Goyal said.
Goyal said the “innovative” and “out-of-the-box” ideas came up during the discussions, and the farmer leaders would decide on the government’s proposal by Monday morning.
The Centre has also proposed that the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) will buy cotton from farmers at an MSP for five years through a legal agreement, reported ANI.
#WATCH | Chandigarh: Union Minister Piyush Goyal says, "...The Cotton Corporation of India will enter a 5-year legal agreement with farmers to buy the crop at MSP..." pic.twitter.com/8tWRptrZE8
— ANI (@ANI) February 18, 2024
The farmers pointed out that they want to diversify into maize crops but want to avoid suffering losses when the prices drop below the MSP, he said.
Talking about the steps taken by the Narendra Modi government regarding the farm sector, Goyal said from 2014 to 2024, the government procured crops worth Rs 18 lakh crore at MSP, while between 2004 and 2014, crops worth only Rs 5.50 lakh crore were procured at the assured price.
What are the farmers saying?
Farmer leaders, after a meeting with the ministers here on Sunday, said they would discuss the government’s proposal in their forums in the coming two days and, thereafter, decide the next course of action.
Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said, “We will discuss in our forums on 19-20 February and take the opinion of experts regarding it and accordingly take a decision.”
A discussion on loan waivers and other demands is pending, and hope that these will be resolved by Tuesday, Pandher said, as per PTI.
He added that the Delhi Chalo march is currently on hold, but will resume at 11 am on 21 February if all the issues are not resolved.
How many meetings have been held so far?
The union ministers and farmer leaders had met earlier on 8, 12, and 15 February but the talks remained inconclusive.
The previous meeting resulted in an agreement to repeal the Electricity Act, 2020, compensate farmers killed in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, and withdraw cases against farmers during the farmers’ movement. Three requests, however, could not be agreed upon: the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, the enactment of a law guaranteeing an MSP for all crops, and farmers’ loan waiver.
Following a second round of meetings that lasted more than five hours last Monday, Pandher had said, “We do not think the government is serious about any of our demands. We do not think they want to fulfil our demands.”
What are the farmers demanding?
Protesting farmers from Punjab have been camping at Shambhu and Khanauri points on the state’s border with Haryana since 13 February when their "Delhi Chalo" march was halted by police.
The call for the march was given by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) to press their demands.
Besides a legal guarantee of MSP, the farmers are demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, farm debt waiver, no hike in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases, “justice” for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21.
Meanwhile, the suspension of internet services has been extended in certain areas in some Punjab districts, including Patiala, Sangrur, and Fatehgarh Sahib, until 24 February on the orders of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. Earlier, internet services were suspended from 12 to 16 February given the farmers’ march. The Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) continued to hold protests at toll plazas in Punjab for the second consecutive day, forcing authorities not to charge a toll tax.At the Ladhowal plaza in Ludhiana, farmers shouted slogans against the Centre and the Haryana government.
The Haryana government on Saturday also extended the ban on mobile internet and bulk SMS services in seven districts until 19 February.
Will there be another meeting?
On the possibility of another meeting with the farmers, Goyal said if they take a decision on Monday, the government will proceed to hold discussions on the same lines as he urged the farmers to call off their protest.
However, he underlined that the other demands of the farmers were “deep and policy-driven,” and it was not possible to find a resolution without an in-depth discussion.
“Elections are coming, a new government will be formed… discussions on such issues will continue,” he said.
With inputs from PTI
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