Farmers to likely to call off agitation after Centre accepts most demands; final decision today

The protesting farmer unions have reached a consensus on the future course of the agitation as nearly all their demands have been met, but a formal announcement of the decision will be made on Wednesday, farmer leader Kulwant Singh Sandhu said on Tuesday. “Nearly all demands raised by us have been met. Letter (from government with assurances on farmers’ demands) has been received. A consensus has been reached, the final decision will be announced tomorrow,” Sandhu told reporters after a meeting of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of over 40 farmers’ unions. Another farmer leader and SKM member said the agitation is likely to be called off on Wednesday as there have been some positive responses from the government side on the farmers’ demands. However, a final decision will be announced after another meeting of SKM on Wednesday. The SKM, which has been spearheading the agitation, formed a five-member panel on Saturday to hold talks with the government on the pending demands of the protesting farmers, including a legal guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP) of crops, compensation to the kin of the farmers who died during the agitation against three agriculture laws and the withdrawal of cases against the protesters. Rahul Gandhi asks for compensation, jobs for kin of farmers killed during protest Earlier today, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slammed the Modi government during the winter session in Lok Sabha on Tuesday over the issue of farm laws and demanded compensation for the kin of farmers who died while protesting against the Centre’s three farm laws. “I want that the farmers be given their rights, they should be given compensation as well as jobs,” the Congress MP said during the proceedings of the winter session in the Lok Sabha today. Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Gandhi slammed the Modi government for its inability to maintain data on the death of farmers during the year-long agitation and tabled a list of farmers who were paid compensation and given jobs in Punjab. Congress members demanded a statement from the government on the issue and walked out of the House along with NCP and DMK members while raising slogans against the government. Around 700 farmers died in farmers’ agitation. The prime minister apologised to the farmers and accepted his mistake. On 30 November, agriculture minister was asked a question - how many farmers died in the agitation? Agriculture minister said he had no data, the Congress member said. With inputs from PTI