Govt ready to suspend farm laws for 18 months, farmers to consider proposal tomorrow

The tenth round of talks between the government and protesting farmer leaders ended today and the next meeting is scheduled to take place on 22 January at 12 noon.

During the meeting, the Centre proposed to suspend the three contentious farm laws for one and half years and set up a joint committee to discuss the Acts to end the stalemate, but farmer leaders did not immediately accept the proposal and said they will revert after their internal consultations.

"Govt has said it is ready to suspend the laws for one and half a year. In reply, farmers said that there is no point in suspending the laws and made it clear that we want the repeal of the laws," said one farmer leader.

Moreover, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said, "During discussions, we said that govt is ready to put on hold the farm laws for one or one and half year. I'm happy that farmer unions have taken this very seriously and said that they would consider it tomorrow and convey their decision on Jan 22."

"It will be a victory for Indian democracy the day farmers' agitation ends," he added.

In the meantime, the farmer unions said that they are firm on their demand for the repeal of laws, but will still discuss government's proposal for suspension of Acts.

"The government proposed to suspend the farm laws for one and a half years. We rejected the proposal but since it has come from the government, we will meet tomorrow and deliberate over it," Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan said.

"They also said that a committee would be formed on MSP & the laws & they would implement the recommendations of the committee," informed Hannan Mollah, General Secretary, All India Kisan Sabha to the reporters post meeting.

During the tenth round of talks on farm laws, Tomar on Wednesday asked farmer unions to form a committee with farmers and government representatives as members which will discuss laws clause wise.

According to ANI sources, the Minister also told the farmer union leaders that the government can wait for a year for the implementation of farm laws.

"Agriculture Minister asked farmer unions to constitute a committee with farmers and government representatives as members. Committee to discuss laws clause wise. While the court has put farm laws in abeyance for 2 months, if needed and consultations are on, the government can wait for a year for their implementation," a source told ANI.

The tenth round of talks between farmer unions and the Central government over the three farm laws began at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Wednesday. The talks were earlier scheduled for January 19 and were later postponed to Wednesday.

Tomar and Union Minister Piyush Goyal, among others, were present at the meeting.

After the ninth round of talks on January 15 remained inconclusive, Tomar had said the unions have been asked to form informal groups among themselves and submit a draft to the government regarding their demands.

On January 12, the Supreme Court stayed the implementation of the Centre's three farm laws and asked the committee formed by it concerning the laws to submit its report within two months.

The committee has been directed to hold a dialogue with farmers and submit its recommendations pertaining to the farm laws within two months from the date of its first sitting.

However, the leaders of farmers' unions rejected the committee, saying their members were already in favour of the farm laws.

Bhupinder Singh Mann, National President of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Mann) had recused himself from the four-member committee appointed by the top court over the new farm laws.The first meeting of the Committee appointed by the Supreme Court to deliberate with concerned stakeholders on farm laws was held on Tuesday, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

Farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital since November 26 last year against the three newly enacted farm laws - Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

With inputs from ANI