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Farm leaders walk out of talks called by Centre, demand minister’s presence
The Union government had invited at least 31 farmers’ organisations and their leaders from Punjab for talks in the national capital, the second attempt in a month to reach out to farmers protesting a set of laws enacted by Parliament to liberalise agricultural markets.
A delegation of protesting farmers’ leaders from Punjab invited for talks by Union agriculture secretary Sanjay Agarwal walked out of the meeting, demanding the presence of farm minister Narendra Singh Tomar, according to an umbrella platform representing them.
The Union government had invited at least 31 farmers’ organisations and their leaders from Punjab for talks in the national capital, the second attempt in a month to reach out to farmers protesting a set of laws enacted by Parliament to liberalise agricultural markets.
Watch: Farmers walk out of Centre’s meeting over absence of minister
“The meeting was an effort to try and create a false impression that the central government is engaging with farmers, when in fact it is going all out to roll out and enforce the black anti-farmer laws,” the All-India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee said in a statement.
The farmers’ delegation demanded the presence of agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar and tore up copies of the laws.
“First, the government should be ready to review and if necessary, repeal the three laws. Second, the government should be ready to consider legislating the minimum support price as a legal right and deal with input cost, food security and other issues,” the AIKSCC statement said.
Avik Saha, convenor of the AIKSCC, said the meeting with the agriculture secretary “did not meet any of these criteria” as the secretary could not repeal, amend or enact new laws.
“Rather his job is to implement the laws made by the government so he is the wrong person for the right discussion,” Saha said.
A one-line statement released by the ministry on the meeting said the farmers’ delegation presented a memorandum to agriculture secretary addressed to the Union agriculture minister.
The memorandum demanded repeal of the recent laws enacted to deregulate farm markets.
Farmers have blocked roads and railway tracks since September 24 in a protest against legislations they fear could pave the way for the government to stop buying cereals at guaranteed prices (minimum support prices or MSP), leaving them vulnerable to exploitation by private players.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, defending the laws, has called the new measures “historic”. He has publicly said that while the laws give farmers options to sell their produce to private buyers, the government would continue to purchase staples such as rice and wheat at MSPs. The laws seek to end local monopolies of regulated markets known as agricultural produce marketing committees or APMCs by opening up to private competition.
These assurances have done little to satisfy millions of farmers in Punjab, Haryana and western parts of Uttar Pradesh. Big farmer groups, who usually produce substantial surpluses, fear deregulation will leave them vulnerable to powerful agribusinesses and in an even weaker negotiating position than before.
The reforms are a crucial test for the Narendra Modi government’s ability to push through structural reforms in the country’s antiquated agriculture sector, which supports nearly half of all Indians, while mollifying especially large farmers in the food bowl states, who are an influential voting bloc.
