Centre invites farmers for meeting on December 30

Farmers' protest update

As the farmers' protests entered the second month, the Centre called the farmers' unions for another round of negotiations on December 30, after the agreement of farmers to discuss and draw the necessary conclusions in benefit of farmers and citizens. The subject of the meeting will be centered around the new farm laws, apprehensions and insecurities of farmers in response to the same. The movement gripped across the nation which originated from the borders of the national capital upholding the demand of revoking three laws forwarded by the parliament in September. The farmers accused the government of passing the laws impulsively and hastily.

The new laws aim to create a free market for farmers to sell and trade their produce. The laws will overrule the existence of age old, government run marketplaces which conduct the business of commodities in a government laid framework. Farmer unions are afraid that this will rule out the principle of Minimum Selling Price (MSP) and leave them at mercy of big corporates. Government holds the vision that these laws will transform the agriculture sector of the country in which it is practiced on an extensive scale and a major contributor to GDP.

The farmers all over the nation are protesting but the movement came to a standoff after Saturday last week when farmers' union sent a letter to the Senior bureaucrat of Union Agriculture Ministry which aimed to hold dialogue with the central government. The protestors constantly demanded to repeal the laws and denied all the half hearted concessions. On December 8, farmers' representatives sat on a negotiations table with a committee of Union Ministers- Narendra Tomar, Piyush Goyal and Som Parkash after discussion with Home Minister Amit Shah. Tomar said in an interview to urge farmers to comprehend the importance of these laws and welcome the optimistic change they would bring.

In a previous letter written to almost 30 farm leaders, the government announced an open minded pursuit to contemplate on existing proposals and incorporate the further needs of farmers. The Bhartiya Janta Party plans to appoint other union leaders like transport minister Nitin Gadkari, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, social justice minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot etc to reach out to people and enlighten them with the riveting aspects of the bill. The sole aim of the centre is to address the issues posed by farmers on December 30.