Union Ministers To Hold Talks With Protesting Farmers, Meeting Scheduled At 3 PM

The Defence Minister of India Rajnath Singh, announced to hold talks with the protesting farmers of Haryana and Punjab.

The meeting regarding the ongoing protest against the three farm bills would be held at 3:00 P.M., on the 1st of December.

The farmers of Haryana and Punjab are protesting against the three farm bills.

The three farm bills are, the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill 2020, the Farmers Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill 2020 (Empowerment and Protection) and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020, were cleared by the President of India.

According to the passed bills, the Minimum Support Price (MSP,) area of trading would be under the purview of the Indian Government.

The reason behind the farmers protest is their fear of being at the mercy of corporates or zamindars for crop prices. The new bills would also demolish the Minimum Support Price (MSP) advantages for farmers.

Ahead of the talks with farmers, Mr. Rajnath held a meeting with the Home Minister of India Amit Shah, Agriculture Minister of India Narendra Singh Tomar and the National President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) J.P. Nadda. The meeting was scheduled at the residence of BJP Chief J.P. Nadda. This was the second meeting between the top BJP leaders in less than 48 hours amid the protests in New Delhi.

Thousands of farmers from Haryana and Punjab marched to Delhi, protesting against the three farm bills.

The protest started on the 25th of November and is still underway.

Agricultural Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday invited the farmers for talks today at 3:00 P.M.

Initially the meeting was scheduled to be held on the 3rd of December, but due to the Novel Coronavirus and cold, the Union Government preponed the meeting.

Mr. Tomar said, “On November 13, we had decided we will meet on December 3, but farmers are in a mood to protest. It is cold and there is Coronavirus. We request you to leave the protest and find a solution through talks.”

Meanwhile, several farmers organisations said they would not attend the meeting if all the other 500 organisations would not be invited.

Sukhvinder S. Sabhran, the Joint Secretary of the Punjab Kisan Sangarsh, said, “There are more than 500 groups of farmers in the country, but the Government has invited only 32 groups for talks today. We will not be going for talks till all groups are called.”

The meeting came a day after Prime Minister Narendra defended farm laws and said, “New laws don’t stop (the) old system. If someone thinks that the earlier system is better, how is this law stopping anyone?”

The BJP introduced three new farm bills which would privatise the agriculture system.

The Union Government reassured farmers that the new open market system would not mean the end to the traditional mandis and minimum support prices (MSP) fixed by the Government.

The meeting would be held at the Capital’s Vigyan Bhawan at 3:00 P.M.

The Union Agriculture Ministry prepared a fresh set of presentations and videos on the farm reforms.

Meanwhile, the farmers are continuing their agitation against the Union Government and three farm bills until their demands are met.

Stay tuned for further updates.