Meeting between protesting farmers, central team held cordially; next round on Feb 22

Chandigarh, Feb 14 (PTI) A meeting between a central team led by Union Minister Pralhad Joshi and farmers' representatives was held here on Friday, with both sides saying it was held in a cordial atmosphere and the next round of talks will take place on February 22.

The discussion during the meeting which comes after a year-long protest by farmers, centered around the demand of the farmers for a legal guarantee of minimum support price on crops.

While Joshi spoke about the steps taken by the Narendra Modi government for the welfare of the farming community, farmer leaders said they strongly put forth their views backed by facts, to which the central delegation did not have any answer.

Both Joshi and farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal separately spoke to reporters here after the meeting which lasted for over two-and-a-half hours at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration.

Joshi said the meeting, in which farmer representatives of two forums spearheading the agitation at Shambhu and Khanauri border points took part and which was also attended by Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian, state Food and Civil Supplies minister Lal Chand Kataruchak and other state government representatives, was held in a cordial atmosphere.

The meeting was held in the backdrop of agitating farmers' various demands that include a legal guarantee of MSP on crops.

The Union minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution led the central team in the meeting attended by a 28-member delegation from the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha spearheading the farmers' ongoing protest.

Joshi said on February 22, another round of talks with the farmers' representatives will be held here in which Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will lead the central team. Joshi said he would also be part of that meeting.

"We put forth our points on the farmers' issues," said Joshi, adding that the central team also spoke about oilseeds and pulses.

He said he shared details regarding steps taken by the Modi government for the welfare of farmers as he spoke about crop purchases and increase in the budget outlay for the agriculture sector.

Dallewal, who was brought from Khanauri border protest site in an ambulance for the meeting, said the next meeting can be held either in Delhi or Chandigarh.

Farmers have stressed that the next meeting be held in Delhi. Today's meeting was held in a positive atmosphere, Dallewal said.

Asked about the Chandigarh meeting, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann attacked the Centre, saying, "They gave farmers time to meet after one year... It shows how much they love Punjabis." "Farmers may sit on hunger strike or face hardships but they are not bothered," said Mann who was addressing the media in Amritsar on another issue.

Punjab Minister Khuddian, who was present in the meeting here, said Dallewal came to attend the meeting despite the demise of his sister's granddaughter.

He also urged the Union minister to consider the farmers' legitimate demands sympathetically and resolve them at the earliest.

Speaking to reporters, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said they discussed in detail during the meeting the issue of legal guarantee of MSP on crops.

Another farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar said the central delegation asked Dallewal to end his indefinite fast but the farmer leader refused. Dallewal told them that his fast-unto-death will continue till the MSP guarantee law is enacted, said Kohar.

He said the issue of the legal guarantee of MSP was supported by facts and figures. The central panel did not have any answer to the facts which were presented, he claimed.

Farmer leader Pandher said the central delegation spoke about bringing many schemes for farmers, crop purchase during the Modi government and also said that they want to make the country self-reliant in terms of pulses and oilseeds.

He said farmer leaders pointed out that there was a 100 per cent increase in the crop rates from 2004 to 2014.

"While during the Modi government, the crop rate increase was just 56-57 per cent," Pandher said.

In the last 11 years, inflation also rose by 59 per cent and farmers did not benefit from the crop rate increase, he said. "We said if the crop is sold at MSP then what is the need for holding an agitation." If according to the Centre, most crops are sold over MSP, then what is the problem in giving a legal guarantee, he said, adding, "It is a question of willpower".

Pandher further said both forums do not have faith in any committee to resolve their issues. The government should show willpower and resolve farmers' issues, he stressed.

"The central delegation did not have any answer to our arguments," he said.

Earlier, four rounds of meetings took place between central ministers and the protesting farmers in February 2024 but the talks remained inconclusive.

Farmers, under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, have been camping at the Shambhu and the Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 last year after security forces did not allow them to march to Delhi to press for their various demands.

Besides a legal guarantee for crop MSP, the farmers are demanding a debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in electricity tariffs, withdrawal of police cases and "justice" for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

Reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act 2013 and compensation to the families of farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21 are also part of their demands. PTI CHS SUN RHL

Source: PTI