Shed rigid attitudes on farm negotiations

When the agitation ended last year, there was an opportunity for the government and unions to sort out all extraneous issues. Instead, disagreements were allowed to fester and the can kicked down the road.

After about a year, familiar scenes were back in the Capital on Monday — large police deployment, barricades obstructing traffic, and farmers trying to push their way into the city. Groups of cultivators called for a mahapanchayat in Jantar Mantar to decide on a raft of demands – including legislating a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Prices (MSP), the sacking of junior home minister Ajay Mishra “Teni” in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case (his son Ashish Mishra, the prime accused in the case, had his bail cancelled by the apex court earlier this year), and the scrapping of all cases against farmers lodged during the 14-month-long struggle.

That’s the only way forward to resolve differences and avoid disruptions.  (Amal KS/Hindustan Times)

The mobilisation, though much smaller in scale than the demonstrations last year, is the result of a months-long stalemate over several issues, principal among them the composition of a panel to decide on MSPs. The panel was notified by the Centre 10 months after the agitation was withdrawn but has seen little progress due to the intransigent attitude of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), which rejected the panel and said it was packed with members backing the now-withdrawn farm laws. Even the remit of the panel is in question – the SKM says it is to explore ways to provide a legal backing to MSPs while the government told Parliament that it is aimed at making MSPs transparent and effective, promote natural farming, and adapt crop patterns.

When the agitation ended last year, there was an opportunity for the government and unions to sort out all extraneous issues. Instead, disagreements were allowed to fester and the can kicked down the road. Now that the three contentious laws have long been repealed, farm groups need to shed their uncompromising attitude and come together to urgently discuss, deliberate, and negotiate with the government with an open mind. That’s the only way forward to resolve differences and avoid disruptions.