Farmers Protest: Eighth Round Of Talks Between Centre

By FnF Correspondent | PUBLISHED: 08, Jan 2021, 17:32 pm IST | UPDATED: 08, Jan 2021, 17:32 pm IST

Delhi: The eighth round of talks between the Centre and farmer leaders over the three farm laws have begun at Vigyan Bhawan. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal. The farmer unions continue to demand complete rollback of the farm laws while the government is determined to not repeal them. The protesters have threatened to hold a tractor rally in the national capital on Republic Day if their demands are not met.

The farmers took out a mega tractor rally in the national capital to press their demand for the complete rollback, whereas the Centre asserted it is ready to consider any proposal other than their repeal.

According to sources, the government is mulling on delayed implementation of the Farms laws. Reports suggest that if farmers don't agree they are likely to postpone the implementation by a year.

Govt ready to consider any proposal except repeal of farm laws: Tomar

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday said the government is ready to consider any proposal other than the repeal of three farm laws, the key demand of the farmers.

Agri Minister meets Sikh priest to mediate between centre and farmers

Tomar has also met a Sikh priest named Baba Lakha Singh of Ludhiana's Nanaksar Gurudwara to mediate between the government and the farmers. The priest is associated with the Sant Samaj, which held influence during the Akali Dal-BJP government in Punjab. He was among the invitees for the Ayodhya Ram temple Bhoomi Pujan.

Baba Lakha Singh also belongs to the same sect as Baba Ram Singh, who killed himself last month amid the protest. He had extended support to the protest much before it had reached the Delhi border.

Farmers hold tractor rally, say it's 'rehearsal' for Jan 26:

A day ahead of the next round of talks with the Union government, thousands of farmers protesting on the Delhi borders organised a 'tractor march' on Thursday amid tight security, describing the event as a "rehearsal" for a similar roadshow proposed on January 26 to oppose the three new Central farm laws.

Youth Congress to pay tribute to deceased farmers on Friday: The Youth Congress has planned to pay nationwide tribute to the farmers who had lost their lives during the protests under the programme 'Ek Diya Shaheedo Ke Naam' at 6 pm on Friday.

No result in the previous talks

The seventh round of talks over the scrapping of the laws ended in a stalemate on Monday as three Union ministers leading the negotiations said it was impossible for them to commit to a rollback of the legislation without wider consultations.

Some headway was made in the sixth round of talks on December 30 as the Centre agreed to exempt farmers from heavy fines for crop-residue burning as provided for in an anti-pollution ordinance.

Subsided power for agriculture use.

The government promised to continue the current mechanism of giving subsidised power for agricultural use. The discussion on demands of the repeal of the three laws and a legal guarantee of MSP were deferred till January 8.

Why are the farmers protesting?

It is one of the largest strikes in decades witnessed by India as the farmers have continued their sit-in protest for more than 1 and a half months. The farmers are demanding that the Centre should revoke the three contentious laws. The laws essentially change the way India’s farmers do business by creating free markets, as opposed to a network of decades-old, government marketplaces, allowing traders to stockpile essential commodities for future sales and laying down a national framework for contract farming.

These laws are the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020.