The farmers are demanding legal guarantees of a minimum support price or MSP, which acts as a safety net for the farming community. The farmers argue that by making MSP a legal guarantee, margins for the farmers can be protected.
Chandigarh: Amid the ongoing farmers’ protest, a panel of Union ministers will hold a fourth round of talks with farm leaders on Sunday over their demands, including loan waiver and bringing an ordinance on giving legal guarantee to MSP for crops. The two sides — ministers and farmer leaders — had met earlier on February 8, 12 and 15 but talks remained inconclusive.
Farmer leaders, including those from the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha that had called for the march, will be meeting Union Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Arjun Munda, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai at 6 pm on Sunday in Chandigarh — the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana.
The meeting comes amid thousands of farmers staying put at the Shambhu and Khanauri points of the Punjab-Haryana border with layers of barricades and a large number of security personnel halting their march to the national capital.
What Are The Demands Of The Farmers?
- The farmers are demanding legal guarantees of a minimum support price or MSP, which acts as a safety net for the farming community. The farmers argue that by making MSP a legal guarantee, margins for the farmers can be protected.
- Along with this demand, farmers also ask for the withdrawal of cases registered during the last agitation in 2020-21.
- Their list of demands also include pensions for farmers, loan waivers and withdrawal from world trade organisation.
- The farmers also want the government to honour a promise to double their incomes, complaining that costs of cultivation have jumped over the past few years while incomes have stagnated, making farming a loss-making enterprise.
- The farmers also insist that the government ensure at least 50 per cent profit over their overall cost of production.
Here Are Some Of The Key Updates:
- There was no report of any confrontation between the protesters and Haryana security personnel on Saturday.
- The farmer leaders have asked the protesters to maintain calm at the borders.
- Multiple layers of barricades and concrete blocks have been put up and security personnel deployed at Delhi’s borders with Haryana also in view of the protest.
On Saturday, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher had said the entire country is looking to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the farmers’ demands and expressed hope that the farmers will get “good news” after Sunday’s meeting with the Centre.
“Now the ball is in the government’s court,” he had said and added that the Centre has a right to take “political” decisions.
“If the government wants resolution of the farmers’ protest, then it should bring an ordinance with an immediate effect that it will enact a law on MSP, then discussion can proceed further. It (Centre) can bring the ordinance overnight, if it wants to,” Pandher had added.