Government-farmer meeting ends; Next round on January 19

Protesting farmer unions stuck to their demand for a complete repeal of three contentious farm laws at their ninth round of talks with three central ministers but while the government asked them to be more flexible in their approach and expressed willingness for necessary amendments as the two sides decided to meet again on January 19Farmer leader Joginder Singh Ugrahan said told reporters after the meeting that the unions urged the government to repeal the three laws but the Centre was unwilling to do soWe decided to meet again on January 19 at 12 pm he saidUgrahan said the union leaders also raised the issue of NIA raids on transporters in Punjab who are supporting farmers protests and were providing logistic support for the agitationAt the meeting that lasted for nearly five hours including a lunch break farmers unions said they are committed to continuing holding direct talks to resolve the overonemonthlong deadlock over three agri laws even as a committee has been formed by the Supreme Court to resolve the deadlockIn his opening remarks Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar urged farmer leaders to be flexible in their approach as has been done by the government AcircBesides Tomar Railways Commerce and Food Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Parkash were part of the government side talking with representatives of around 40 farmer unions at the Vigyan Bhawan hereBoth the government and farmer unions have reaffirmed their commitment to continue with the direct dialogue process All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee member Kavita Kuruganti who is part of the meeting saidIn his opening remarks Tomar ji said you keep saying that the government is adamant and making it an issue of ego even though we have accepted several demands Dont you think you should be flexible and not stick to one single demand of repealing the laws said Baljit Singh Bali of Punjab Kisan MorchaFarmer leader Darshan Pal said there was a good discussion on all three laws There is a possibility of some resolution We are positive he addedAnother leader Rakesh Tikait said Government has told us that solution should be found through dialogue and not a court Everyone is of the same views There is a possibility of some solutionThousands of farmers mainly from Punjab Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh are protesting at various border points of Delhi for over a month now against the three lawsOn January 8 the eighth round of meeting had remained inconclusive as the Centre ruled out repealing the three contentious laws claiming nationwide support for the reforms However farmer leaders had said that they were ready to fight till death and their ghar waapsi would happen only after law waapsiIn the sixth round held on December 30 last year some common ground was reached on two demands decriminalisation of stubbleburning and continuation of power subsidiesEnacted in September 2020 the government has presented these laws as major farm reforms aimed at increasing farmers income but the protesting farmers have raised concerns that these legislations would weaken the minimum support price MSP and mandi wholesale market systems and leave them at the mercy of big corporationsThe government has maintained that these apprehensions are misplaced and has ruled out a repeal of the lawsThe Supreme Court on January 11 had stayed the implementation of the three laws till further orders and appointed a fourmember panel to resolve the impasse AcircBhartiya Kisan Union president Bhupinder Singh Mann however on Thursday recused himself from the committeeShetkari Sanghatana Maharashtra president Anil Ghanwat International Food Policy Research Institutes Pramod Kumar Joshi and agriculture economist Ashok Gulati are the other three members on the panelThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever