Union Cabinet to meet on December 16 amid farmers agitation: Official

According to a government official, a meeting of the Union Cabinet has been scheduled to be held on Wednesday via video conferencing. The official on Tuesday said, "The Union Cabinet meeting is scheduled to be held on December 16 at 11:25 am, via video conferencing." This Union Cabinet meeting will be held amidst the farmers' agitation across the Delhi border.

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The last Union cabinet meeting was held on December 9, where the cabinet gave a mod for Aatmanirbhat Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY) to boost the employment in the formal sector and incentive the creation of new employment opportunities during COVID-19 recovery phase under Aatmanirbhar Bharat Package 3.0. 

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Farmers' agitation continues 

Meanwhile, farmers remain stern in their demand of repealing the three contentious farm laws which received the President's assent on September 24 this year. Consequently, the union leaders have also rejected Centre's 10-point memorandum suggesting amendments in the existing laws. Farmers have expressed concerns over the abolishment of MSP, adding that the laws favour the corporates. In another update, the Agriculture Minister met with MPs and MLAs from Haryana at the Krishi Bhavan whereas a delegation of Punjab BJP leaders, led by state president Ashwani Sharma met Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and MoS Som Prakash.

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Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has held six rounds of discussions with the farmers so far, but all have ended inconclusively. On Monday, Tomar informed that the Centre is deliberating with the union leaders over the next round of talks. Tomar is leading the negotiations with 40 farmer unions, along with Food Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce and Industries Som Parkash. Earlier on Monday, Tomar met Home Minister Amit Shah and discussed the way forward to end the deadlock.

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