Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 9: The deadlock between the agitating farmers and the central government remained unresolved even 14 days after the “Delhi Chalo” movement on Wednesday with the farm leaders rejecting the government’s proposal for some amendments in the contentious acts within hours of receiving the “written assurances” and the centre refusing to concede their demand for repeal of the three farm laws.
Demonstrating further hardening of the their attitude and sticking to the demand for “only repeal” of the acts, the farmers protesting near national capital Delhi said they would block the Delhi-Jaipur national highway by December 12 and hold protest demonstrations in many parts of the country on December 14 and “gherao” the BJP offices across India.
The protesters also urged farmers from other states to reach Delhi and gave a three-day deadline to the centre to repeal the acts.
“Agra-Delhi Expressway will be blocked on December 12; no tax to be paid on that day at any toll plaza in country,” farmer leader Darshan Pal said.
“We will block all roads in Delhi one by one if the three farm laws are not scrapped,” the farmer leaders present at the Singhu border (on the Haryana side) near Delhi said. They also said no decision has been taken on next round of talks with central government.
Farmer leaders said they have rejected the written proposal sent by the union Agriculture Ministry since it did not accept their demand for total repeal of the laws.
Addressing a press conference on this issue at the Singhu border, farmer leaders of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha termed the new proposal “an insult to the country’s farmers” and refused any further talks with the government.
In its written proposal to the leaders of the protesting farmers delivered at the Singhu border protest site on Wednesday afternoon, the Centre has reiterated that minimum support prices will not be affected by the new agricultural marketing reform laws.
It offered a written assurance that government procurement at MSPs will remain, along with proposals to amend the laws to deal with the concerns raised by farmers regarding parity between state-run and private mandis, registration of traders, and dispute resolution mechanisms.
The document, sent by Agriculture Ministry joint secretary Vivek Aggarwal to 40 farmer leaders, identifies ten different issues or concerns that the farmers have raised during the talks. With regard to the demand for full repeal, the document simply states that the Centre is keeping an open mind to consider all of the provisions against which objections are being raised by farmers.
With regard to MSP, the document says the Centre is prepared to give a “written assurance” that the current system of procurement of crops at MSP will continue. Farmers have been demanding a legal guarantee, preferably in the form of a new law that specifically says crops cannot be bought below MSP rates.
In several cases, the Centre proposes to enact amendments putting the onus on State governments. With regard to parity between mandis, it says an amendment will allow states to register private mandis and tax their transactions at the same rate at which transactions at state-run mandis are taxed. Farmers have also expressed concerns that private buyers who do not need to provide any identification beyond a PAN card will lead to fraud. The Centre proposes to delegate powers to State governments to formulate rules regarding registration of private buyers, keeping local circumstances in mind. Registration of contracts is also the responsibility of States, but until formal registry mechanisms are set up, the Centre proposes to mandate that a copy of the contract is submitted to the SDM within 30 days of signing.
The farm leaders, however, said though such amendments might be welcomed by State governments, as it restores some of their powers, it would not help farmers who live in States which choose not to address their concerns, apparently hinting at the BJP-ruled states.
With regard to dispute resolution, the Centre says it is willing to introduce a provision allowing recourse to civil courts, apart from the current system of arbitration by the SDM.
Further allaying the concerns that big corporates will take over farmlands, the proposal clarifies that no buyer can take loans against farmland nor any such condition will be made to farmers. On attaching farmland under contract farming, the government said the existing provision is clear but still it can be clarified further if required.
The proposal was sent after a meeting between Union home minister Amit Shah and farmer leaders in the national capital on Tuesday evening. At the meeting at the state-run Indian Council of Agriculture Research’s (ICAR) Pusa Complex, Shah had said agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar would present a concrete proposal.
While the impasse in the talks continued, a delegation of the opposition leaders including the former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, the Nationalist Congress Party chief and former union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, and Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and D Raja met President Ram Nath Kovind and submitted a memorandum asking to repeal the new farm laws. “We have given a memorandum to the President. We are asking to repeal agriculture laws and electricity amendment bill that were passed in anti-democratic manner without proper discussions and consultations in Parliament,” Yechury said.
The protest against the farm laws has been going on since November 26. On Tuesday, the farmers unions had enforced a Bharat Bandh (nationwide strike) from 11 am to 3 pm, which was peaceful. The central government has held five rounds of talks with the farmer leaders, but no breakthrough has been achieved.
The Union home minister Amit Shah had called the farmer leaders on Tuesday evening for informal negotiations, and informed them that a list of proposals would be shared with them. That list, with seven proposed amendments, was handed over to the leaders on Wednesday.
The leaders held discussions and rejected the proposal within hours. “There is nothing new in government proposal; we will continue our protest against three agri-marketing laws,” farmer leaders said. Following the development, the union agriculture minister again held discussions with Amit Shah on Wednesday evening.
Speaking to media after their meeting with Shah on Tuesday evening, the farm union leaders said they reiterated to Shah their demand of a complete repeal but Shah reportedly said the government would not rollback the laws. Instead, he is said to have told farmers Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar would present a “concrete” proposal in Wednesday’s scheduled sixth round talks. Farm leaders, however, told media they would take a call on whether to go ahead with Wednesday’s talks or not.
“There was a request from all opposition parties for in-depth discussion of farm bills and that it should be sent to select committee, but unfortunately, no suggestion was accepted and bills were passed in hurry,” Sharad Pawar said after the meeting between opposition leaders and President Kovind.
“In this cold, the farmers are on the streets protesting peacefully, expressing their unhappiness. It is the duty of the government to resolve this issue,” said Pawar. Rahul Gandhi after the meeting told the media, “Farmers will not compromise, they know that there is no future if they don’t take a stand today.”
“We informed the President that it is absolutely critical that these anti-farmer laws are taken back,” Gandhi said.