On the 30th of December, all eyes are on the 6th round of talks between the farmer unions and the Central Government.
The meeting, scheduled to be held in the afternoon today, the 30th of December is underway.
The protesting farmers on the 29th of December, agreed to attend the meeting to discuss the three farm bills, which created ruckus amongst Indian farmers.
The farmers of Haryana and Punjab called for a protest against the three farm laws and have been protesting from the 25th of November.
According to the farmers, the three farm bills –
The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill 2020, the Farmers Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill 2020 (Empowerment and Protection) and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020, would demolish Minimum Price Support (MSP) giving agriculture sector to the corporates and privatise the agriculture sector.
They also fear, with the new agriculture laws, they would be at the mercy of corporate people, as the mandi system would also be out of context.
In regard to the 6th round of talks, the Union Minister Som Prakash said, he hopes the talks would be decisive and the ongoing agitation against the three farm reforms ends today.
Mr. Prakash said the Central Government would discuss the Minimum Support Price (MSP) policy and mandi system, a major reason of the protest.
Mr. Prakash is one of the three representatives of the Centre who is being involved in all the other rounds of meetings held between farmer unions and the Government of India (GoI.)
The other two union ministers holding talks are: the Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and the Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.
Speaking to the media, Som Prakash said, “We hope that the talks will be decisive. Talks will be held on all issues including MSP with an open heart. I hope that farmers’ agitation ends today.”
Meanwhile, Sukhwinder Singh Sabra, joint secretary of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (Punjab) said, today’s meet won’t lead to any solution and further demanded the removal of the three laws passed by the Union Government.
Mr. Sabra said, “Five rounds of talks between farmers and govt (Government) have taken place. We don’t think we will reach a solution even today. The three farm laws should be repealed.”
While the Central Government is ready to make some amendments in the bills, the farmers want it to be scrapped altogether.
Farmers are demanding just a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ from the Central Government without any compromise or negotiations.
The nationwide protest by thousands of farmers is now continuing for more than a month. The protest is against the three farm laws with the core demand to scrap the laws and legal support for MSP.
