“Minister said Won’t Repeal Law, Go To Supreme Court”: Farmers After Meet

Agriculture minister Narendra Tomar “clearly said that the laws will not be repealed, he even told us to approach the Supreme Court for repeal of the laws,” stated Sarwan Singh Pandher of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, who attended  the meet. “We urge the youth of Punjab to prepare for a long haul. We will take out a big procession on Republic Day,” he added.

Union Minister Narendra Tomar stated the legal guidelines will probably be mentioned with representatives of farmers’ organisations from different states. “We will discuss these three laws point-by-point and we are ready to make amendments as necessary after considering the points on which you have objections,” the agriculture ministry quoted him as saying.

The two sides took a protracted break after simply an hour of discussions, throughout which the farmers had langar (group kitchen) meals introduced in from outdoors by a van, as they’ve been doing.

Instead of becoming a member of them just like the final time, Mr Tomar, Commerce and Industry minister Piyush Goyal and his junior minister Som Prakash had been seen having a separate dialogue in the course of the break, which lasted for nearly two hours.

The assembly had began with a two-minute silence for the protesting farmers who’ve died in the course of the agitation, the agriculture ministry stated. More than 60 farmers tenting on the Delhi border have died, a lot of them couldn’t survive the acute climate situations. “One farmer is dying every 16 hours. It is the responsibility of the government to answer,” farmer chief Rakesh Tikait has stated.

The farmers have been tenting on the borders of Delhi since November 26, staying of their transformed tractors within the bitter chilly. Even the present spell of heavy rains, which has turned their campsite right into a sea of mud, has not been in a position to deter them.

In the final spherical of assembly on December 30, the Centre stated the 2 sides got here to an understanding on two of the 4 calls for of the farmers — withdrawal of the Electricity Amendment Bill and the penal provisions for stubble burning within the Air Quality Commission Ordinance.

Last month, the Supreme Court had ordered {that a} particular committee be shaped, insisting that the Centre’s negotiations have failed. “Your negotiation will again fail as they (the farmers) won’t agree,” stated the bench led by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde.

In Punjab, Reliance Jio went to court docket right now, searching for authorities intervention as no arrest was made for the destruction of lots of of its cellphone towers, allegedly by protesting farmers. Jio proprietor Mukesh Ambani is seen as one of many main beneficiaries of the farm legal guidelines. The farmers have accused the federal government of working for the good thing about corporates at their expense.

The farmers are adamant that they won’t settle for something lower than a repeal of the legal guidelines. They additionally need a regulation that ensures the Minimum Support Price. The authorities, which says the legal guidelines will profit farmers by eradicating middlemen and allow them to promote crops anyplace within the nation, has blamed the opposition for the protests, saying they’re inciting farmers.