Photos: Farmers meet Centre for fresh talks as protest completes a week

Farmers camping at Singhu Border raise slogans in protest against the centre's farm reform laws near New Delhi on December 1. The protest by cultivators from across North India who have massed at Delhi’s borders to demand the repeal of three contentious laws aimed at opening up farm trade, completed its seventh day on December 3. (Vipin Kumar / HT Photo)

Farmers camping in and besides tractor trolleys at Singhu a day before a crucial second round of talks between demonstrators and the central government in New Delhi on December 2. Three Union ministers meet leaders from 40 farm organisations for the fourth round of talks at the Capital’s Vigyan Bhawan on December 3. (Raj K Raj / HT Photo)

Farmers protest across police barricades at the Delhi-Ghazipur Border, in New Delhi on December 1. While the farmers want the three farm laws approved by Parliament in September to be revoked, the government has leaned on its new reform agenda for better crop prices and higher investments in the farm sector. (Raj K Raj / HT Photo)

Meals are prepared at a community kitchen at Singhu Border near New Delhi on December 1. Farmers also want roll-back of an ordinance invoked in October to crack down on pollution in New Delhi, of which stubble burning is a major cause. The ordinance provides for steep penalties for polluters, including farmers who burn crop stubble, with a jail term of 1 year and fines of up to 1 crore rupees. (Vipin Kumar / HT Photo)

Bilkis Bano, a demonstrator who rose to prominence during the Shaheen Bagh anti-CAA NRC protests, is escorted away by police after she arrived to join the farmers’ protest at Singhu Border on December 1. Opposition to the reforms has set off some of the biggest farmers’ protests in decades, HT reported. (Vipin Kumar / HT Photo)

Representatives of various farmers’ unions speak to media after holding talks with Union ministers in New Delhi on December 1. In the last round of talks on December 1, which was inconclusive, the government had asked farm unions to identify specific provisions in the three laws which they were opposed to. The Centre had assured of appropriate responses to their objections in today’s meeting. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

Commuters stuck in a heavy traffic congestion due to a road blockade by farmers in Noida on December 02. Vehicular traffic, especially in outer and east Delhi areas, has been impacted because of the closure of several border points connecting Delhi-Haryana and Delhi-Uttar Pradesh. The latest among these was a blockage on NH-9 near the UP Gate on December 3. The move has led to disruption of traffic from Ghaziabad to Delhi. (Sunil Ghosh / HT Photo)

Farmers demonstrate with cattle at the Ghazipur protest site in New Delhi on December 2. Farmers fear the reforms could pave the way for the government to stop buying staples at federally fixed MSP, erode their bargaining power and leave them at the mercy of private buyers. The government has insisted it will still buy staples at MSP, but farmers have demanded a law to guarantee that no sale of farm produce below MSP will be permitted. (ANI)