Union minister Som Prakash, ahead of the meeting with farmers, said the negotiations would be “decisive” and the government wants them to “celebrate New Year at their homes”.
In talks with Central ministers in progress now at Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan, representatives of protesting farmers will highlight frauds committed by traders against farmers in Madhya Pradesh. The alleged fraud involved promised purchase of crops that never took place, leaving scores of farmers in Hoshangabad and Guna in the lurch, NDTV reported.
The protests have intensified since the last month when thousands of farmers from Punjab and Haryana marched towards national capital and sat for a demonstration on Delhi borders. The protesters have only increased since then with farmers from other states reaching the borders to support the protesting farmers. Farmer unions including those affiliated with left parties carried out a massive rally in protest of farm laws in Bihar on Tuesday.
The government is hoping for a breakthrough to resolve the protests as Union minister Som Prakash, ahead of the meeting with farmers, said the negotiations would be “decisive” and the government wants them to “celebrate New Year at their homes”.
“We will discuss every issue including Minimum Support Price. I can say that we are open to talks with an open heart. They too should come with an open mind. The agitation will definitely end if they do that,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Baldev Singh Sirsa, a farmer leader from Punjab said: “Ever since new agrarian reform laws have been enacted, the incidence of cheating with farmers has increased. Merchants have opened offices in villages, bought crops from farmers and then run away… They have not paid the farmers their crop amount.”
“Five rounds of talks between farmers and the government have taken place. We don’t think we will reach a solution even today. The three farm laws should be repealed,” Sukhwinder Singh Sabra of Punjab’s Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
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