Hardening the government’s stance ahead of the next round of talks, India's agriculture minister N S Tomar called on farm unions to come up with an “alternative” to their demand for repeal of the new agri laws, saying most farmers, experts, scientists and other stakeholders are in favour of the legislations.
“There’s no point in being adamant (on demanding repeal of laws) when the Supreme Court has already stayed their implementation. We expect farmers to discuss the laws clause-by-clause and give us other options. If the unions’ objections are found to be valid, the government may consider them and go ahead with amendments,” Tomar said. Meanwhile, the talks between the union and the government has been postponed to Wednesday.
Farm representatives, however, said Singh’s comment indicated the Centre was not willing to talk on their core demands. They also condemned the National Investigation Agency (NIA) serving notices to people who they said were supporting the protests. The unions said the umbrella body Samyukta Kisan Morcha would legally challenge the NIA actions.
Centre has suggested amendments
Maintaining that the Centre had suggested amendments, Tomar said, “The farmer unions are not willing to move even a bit and are constantly asking to repeal the laws. When the government enacts any law, it is meant for the whole country. Most farmers, scientists, experts and other stakeholders working in the farm sector agree with these laws.
Yudhvir Singh, general secretary of Bhartiya Kisan Union, while addressing a joint press conference at Singhu border, said, “It seems the minister, by deliberately making such remarks, wants to convey that the government does not want to talk on our core demands. The government thinks that we won’t take part in talks after hearing his remarks. But we will definitely go for talks to get the reply on our demands.”
Clause-by-clause talks
The Centre earlier told farm unions that the talks will need to take up a clause-by-clause discussion to zero in on areas where changes can be made rather than taking up the blanket demand that the three legislations be scrapped. Tomar told the unions that it is incorrect to say that the Centre had not budged on the demands put forward by farm organisations, pointing to proposed amendments that had been sent to the protesting outfits. He added that on the other hand, the unions kept insisting on repeal of all the three laws without discussing specific objections.
Though the government had previously sought a clause-by-clause discussion, Tomar was much more insistent, indicating that the talks could not progress unless this was done, said an official source.
SC-appointed panel to meet farmers
The Supreme Court-appointed committee on the three new farm laws will hold its first meeting with farmers on January 21, said panel member Anil Ghanwat. During a press conference, Ghanwat said the biggest challenge before the committee is to convince the agitating farmers to discuss the matter.
"It has been decided that the first meeting with farmers will be held on January 21. The physical meeting will be held with those organisations who want to meet us in person. Video conferencing will be held with those who can't come to us," Ghanwat said.
"If the government wants to come and speak with us, we welcome it. We will hear the Government side, too. The biggest challenge is to convince the agitating farmers to come and speak with us, we will try our level best," he added.
On January 12, the Supreme Court stayed the implementation of the Centre's three farm laws and asked the committee formed by it, concerning the laws, to submit its report within two months. The committee has been directed to hold a dialogue with farmers and submit its recommendations pertaining to the farm laws within two months from the date of its first sitting.
After the press conference, the other two members of the committee said they will remain neutral and resolve the impasse between the government and the farmers.
"'When we get this kind of responsibility, we have to work impartially. Will work fairly. We do not have to give our views. We have to present the views of the farmer unions before the Supreme Court," Dr PK Joshi, member of the committee said. Another member of the committee, agriculture economist Ashok Gulati said, "We will talk to all the stakeholders. We will talk to those who are opposing and supporting the farm laws. We will put the farmer unions views before the apex court, if they will tell us about their opinions to us. We will also talk to state governments."
The committee consisted of Bhartiya Kisan Union President Bhupinder Singh Mann, Shetkari Sanghatana president Anil Ghanwat, and agri-economists Ashok Gulati and Pramod Kumar Joshi. However, shortly after it was formed, Bhupinder Singh recused himself from the committee and said "I will always stand with my farmers and Punjab".
