The protesting farmers’ unions agreed Monday on a government proposal to hold the next round of discussion on the new farm laws on December 30. However, they insisted that the meeting’s agenda should include the discussion of the modalities to repeal the three laws. Hours earlier, the Center had invited 40 protesting union leaders to talk Wednesday to find a “logical solution” to the current stalemate on farm laws. “The government is also committed to finding a logical solution on all relevant issues with a clear intention and an open mind,” said the letter written by Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Aggarwal to farmers’ unions. At the last meeting between the two parties on December 5, peasant leaders had demanded a clear “yes or no” response from the government on their key demand for the repeal of the three laws.
Will continue to work to strengthen farmers with full force, dedication: PM Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday pointed to the 100th Kisan railway and said the government would continue to work to empower farmers with all its strength and dedication. “Kisan Rail and Krishi Udaan will help farmers sell their basic products in other states. Kisan Rail has expanded the market for farmers, “said Prime Minister Modi.
“Now they can sell their basic products in those parts of the country where the demand for those specific products is greatest,” he added. This will empower farmers by reducing their costs and thereby increasing their income, he said. “Kisan Rail is like a mobile cold storage facility. Perishable items such as fruits, vegetables, milk, fish, etc. they can be safely transported from one place to another in time, ”he said.
Congratulating the farmers, Modi also said that despite the Covid-19 challenge, the Kisan Rail network had expanded in the last four months and now has its 100th lane.
The ‘wall of lies’ on farm laws will soon fall, says Narendra Tomar
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Monday that a “wall of lies” had spread in a “planned” way among farmers against the new agricultural laws. However, “it won’t last long and the protesting peasants will soon realize the truth,” Tomar said.
The minister reiterated that he hoped for an early solution to the impasse. “Soon some way out will emerge and we will reach the solution. Everyone knows that the wall of lies is never strong. The truth is the truth. There will come a time when people will start to accept the truth, ”Tomar said at a virtual event organized by the NGO Confederation of Rural India (CNRI).
Delhi: Leaders of around 25 farmers’ organizations met today and delivered to the Union Minister of Agriculture, Narendra Singh Tomar, a letter in support of the new agricultural laws. pic.twitter.com/deesc2QX3b
– ANI (@ANI) December 28, 2020
Meanwhile, the leaders of around 25 farmers’ organizations met in Tomar on Monday and delivered a letter in support of the new farm laws.
Separately, addressing representatives of 11 farmers’ organizations, Tomar said that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then Minister of Agriculture Sharad Pawar wanted to carry out agricultural reforms during the UPA regime, but were unable to implement them due to the “ political pressure ”.
Nihangs or armed Sikh warriors sit outside their makeshift tents as they block a road in protest against new agricultural laws on the Delhi-Haryana state border, outside New Delhi, on Sunday. (AP Photo / Manish Swarup)
Activist Anna Hazare, who has sent several letters to the central government since the farmers’ protests began near the Delhi borders, has reiterated his plan to start an agitation in the capital in January. In a statement issued to the press, Hazare said the problems facing farmers will not end until they get a justified price for their produce.
“Farmers are forced to commit suicide because they do not even get back the money invested through agriculture … Since the Union government has accepted the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission, it should accept the estimates sent by the state commissions and decide the Minimum Support Price by adding 50 percent to the cost of production, rather than reducing it too much. If this is done, farmers will get a fair price and will not be forced to end their lives, ”Hazare wrote.
He also recounted the promises made to him by the Union agriculture ministers and other representatives of the government led by the BJP in the last three years.
Repeal agricultural laws: OP Chautala appeals to Prime Minister Modi
Former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday calling for the withdrawal or suspension of the Center’s new agricultural laws until consensus is reached with all farmers’ organizations.
The 85-year-old president of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) said that no concrete solution to the problem had been found so far due to the “stubborn” attitude of the government. “This is a sad situation because people from the peasant class generally don’t participate in any long commotion. If this is happening today, then it must be viewed with sensitivity, ”he wrote in the letter.
A farmer sits in a vehicle while others gesticulate at the site of a protest against new agricultural laws at a state border on a national highway in Shahjahanpur, in the desert state of Rajasthan, near New Delhi. (Photo: REUTERS / Adnan Abidi)
Farmer defies winter cold, protests with naked body near Delhi border
Fighting against the freezing temperature of the national capital, a farmer, Vikas Yadav, has been registering his protest against agricultural laws on the Singhu border naked with the tricolor painted on him. With slogans written on his arms and face, Yadav from the Kannauj region of Uttar Pradesh said he hoped this would draw the government’s attention to the unrest. “No one is listening to us. We live on the road, but nobody pays attention. Maybe now they will, ”the PTI quoted Yadav as saying.
After protesting “silently” for a week while waiting for things to change for the better, he was “frustrated” by the government’s “inaction”. He then paid 200 rupees to have his body painted in a show of “farmers’ unity and strength.” “The government has been ignoring us. I came here a week ago and nothing has changed. They don’t care if the farmers are on the road in this cold. They won’t care even if we die, ”he said.
More than 1,500 telecommunication towers damaged in Punjab
More than 1,500 telecommunication towers in Punjab have been damaged by farmer unrest, disrupting services in some pockets, sources told PTI. The power supply to the towers was broken and cables were cut in various parts of the state as farmers expressed their anger at the infrastructure owned by Mukesh Ambani’s Jio company, as they saw it along with industrialist Gautam Adani as the main beneficiaries of the new laws.
Neither the Ambani Reliance group nor the Adani companies purchase food grains from farmers. “Until yesterday 1,411 towers were damaged and today the count has exceeded 1,500,” said a source with knowledge of the matter.
(With PTI inputs)
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