Vijender Singh joins farmers' protest, swears to return Khel Ratna if Laws not withdrawn

Boxer Vijender Singh, who contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on a Congress ticket, joined the farmers' agitation on Sunday and threatened to return his Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award if the Central government fails to accept the farmers' demands. The farmers' agitation continues to gain momentum with more people joining the protest, despite the government assurance on the continuation of Minimum Support Price (MSP) and also asserting the willingness to address the concerns of the farmers.

After the fifth round of deliberations which took place on Saturday, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar stated that the government will deliberate on all the demands of the farmers. He also highlighted the initiatives of the Modi government for ensuring the farmers' welfare in order to instill confidence in the farmers' community and also reiterated that the government had no intention of abolishing the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees (APMC) system.

The government has urged the leaders of the farmers' unions to give suggestions on the issues they have, however, there has been a repeated demand to repeal the three agrarian laws. Tomar has also appealed to the agitating farmers to at least send their elders, women and children back in view of the threat of COVID-19 and also the onset of winter. The farmers' unions have however decided to go ahead with Bharat Bandh on December 8.

"On December 9, a meeting will be held again. We have told the farmers that the government will examine all their demands. It will be our attempt to reach a solution. It would have been easier for us to reach a solution if we got suggestions from farmer leaders. We will still wait for that," Tomar said. 

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What are the farm laws?

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

What are farmers' concerns?

Farmers are of the opinion that the laws will affect the MSP mechanism and the APMC Mandi system. Moreover, with the freeing of the farm sector, farmers think they will be left to the mercy of the private sector entities. However, the government has assured them that MSP and Mandi system will not be impacted and the laws would allow the farmers to sell their produce outside of the Mandis without the involvement of middlemen and commission agents who frisk a substantial chunk of the revenue meant for farmers. However, the farmers are still free to sell their produce through the conventional medium of Mandis system. The government also contended that the MSP has not been impacted and the Agricultural Budget and MSP has only increased during the Modi government.

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