Centre asks Farmers' Unions to choose date for next round of talks; hopes for a solution

In a bid to arrive at a solution as the farmers' protest enters day 26, the government on Sunday invited the farmers for the next round of talks and asked them to choose a convenient date. In a letter to the union leaders, Agriculture Ministry Joint Secretary Vivek Aggarwal said, "I request those previously invited protesting union leaders to provide details of their remaining concerns and doubts and suggest a date as per convenience for next round of talks." Previous five rounds of formal talks between the government and 40 farmer unions have failed to break the deadlock with the farmers insisting on a repeal of the Centre's three laws and camping at various border points of Delhi for over three weeks now.

The government intends to convene the next meeting at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi for resolving the issue so that the ongoing protests end at the earliest, Aggarwal said in his letter. He also added that the Centre is making all efforts to find an appropriate solution to resolve all the issues raised by the farmers with an open mind.

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PM Modi's outreach

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday paid an unscheduled visit to the Gurudwara Rakab Ganj Sahib in Delhi, amid the ongoing farmers' protest at Delhi's border. Earlier on Saturday, PM Modi shared Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar's 8-page letter to farmers in nine different languages. PM Modi shared the letter in  Kannada, Odiya, Telugu, Tamil, Punjabi, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi and Bengali - to connect with most non-BJP states, miffed with the Centre's Farm Laws. In a bid to reach out to farmers across the nation on the three Farm laws, BJP leaders are highlighting the benefits of the farm laws. PM Modi had also announced that he would address farmers again on December 25 - the birth anniversary of late PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee - on the 3 Farm laws and initiate another instalment of direct benefit transfer (DBT) to farmer accounts.

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Farmers protest continue

The farmers' protest have entered day 25 with the farmers staying firm that they want a total repeal of the Farm acts. Rejecting the Centre's proposed amendment to the three Farm Laws, they have stated a 'lack of trust' on the Modi government. The farm union leaders were sent a 10-point proposal by the Centre assuring to give written guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP), empowering states to create a law which will prevent misuse of traders' registration, continuing current electricity bill payment done by the government and amend the stubble burning penalty clause. While the Centre has been in talks to several other farm unions supporting the Laws, the protesting unions have retaliated by approaching the Supreme Court seeking a total repeal of the laws and a nationwide farm waiver.

On the other side, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that the government is hopeful of resolving farmers' agitation by the year-end, as per PTI. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has offered to form a panel to facilitate the talks with farms to stop the protests and remove the blockade to Delhi highways. Punjab is the only state which has passed farms negating the Centre's laws, while Delhi has passed a resolution against it.

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