Published 23:02 IST, December 23rd 2020

Chidambaram pans Centre's 'inflexible' stance, urges 'keep Farm Laws on hold during talks'

On Wednesday, Congress leader P Chidambaram contended that the talks with farmers' unions had been scuttled owing to the inflexible position of the Centre.

Reported by: Akhil Oka
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On Wednesday, senior Congress leer P Chidambaram contended that talks with farmers' unions h been scuttled owing to inflexible position of Centre. According to him, Union government was being impractical in categorically ruling out a repeal of three farm laws. reafter, he urged it to accept CJI-led SC bench's suggestion that agrarian laws should be held in abeyance during period of talks. Observing that Centre must eng with farmer leers without any pre-determined position, Rajya Sabha MP opined that only logical conclusion of talks would be that Parliament repeals contentious legislation and formulate new laws inste. 

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What are farm laws? 

Farmers' Produce Tre and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 aims at freeing  farmers from constraints of state Agriculture Produce Market Committees whereby y would be able to sell ir produce anywhere. Meanwhile,  Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 protects and empowers farmers to eng with processors, wholesalers, large retailers, exporters for farm services. This entails provision of contract farming. On or hand,  Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 specifies that supply of foodstuffs including cereals, pulses, potato, edible oilseeds, and oils shall be regulated only under exceptional circumstances. 

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Unions urge Centre to send a concrete proposal

On December 9,  farmer leers h unanimously rejected Centre's proposal for making amendments and called for an escalation in protests until farm laws are repealed. Subsequently, PM Modi, his Cabinet colleagues, as well as top BJP leers, have dressed farmers across country to dress ir concerns. Moreover, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar gave 8 concrete assurances to farmers via an open letter.

On December 20, Centre asked 40 protesting unions to provide details of all remaining concerns and fix a convenient date for resumption of talks. Earlier in day, farmers' unions sent a letter to Union government and me it clear that y were t willing to budge from ir demand for repeal of agrarian laws. dressing media, y called upon Centre to put forth a concrete proposal to re-start talks. 

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23:02 IST, December 23rd 2020