NEW DELHI: Farmers unions protesting against farm laws wrote to the Ministry of Agriculture Wednesday morning, rejecting the Center’s Dec. 9 proposals to amend the laws and clarify certain provisions. Farmer leader Darshan Pal of “Sanyukta Kisan Morcha” also requested the Center do not defame farmers’ movement and “stop holding parallel conversations” with other peasant organizations (those that do not participate in the protest against the laws).
“Since we had already expressed our concerns about those suggestions during different rounds of talks, we did not respond (to the preliminary proposals on December 9) in writing,” Pal said in his email to the Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Vivek Aggarwal.
Farmers’ representatives said that the CS intervention was a moral victory for them, but that they would continue their agitation on the Delhi borders until all three agricultural laws are repealed: one demand which has led to an impasse as the Center is not willing to repeal the laws. They said that forming a committee would be fruitful only if the laws were repealed and representatives of all national and regional agricultural organizations were represented.
They are expected to submit their response to the SC on Thursday, explaining how the core laws will have an adverse impact on farmers’ livelihoods.
“The farmers’ unions had rejected the government’s proposal to form a committee on December 1. What will the SC-supervised committee do if the government is not willing to repeal the three farm laws? Our agitation will continue until the Center accepts our central demand, “Avik Saha, member of the national task force of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordinating Committee (AIKSCC), told TOI.
The AIKSCC working group has decided to go ahead with its “Shraddhanjali Diwas” (tribute day) scheduled for December 20 from 11 am to 1 pm in each village in memory of those who died during the upheaval in the last three weeks.
“The CS can and should decide on the constitutionality of the three agricultural laws. But it is not for the judiciary to decide the viability and convenience of these laws. That is between the farmers and their elected leaders. The negotiation supervised by the CS will be a error way, “he tweeted Yogendra Yadav, another member of the AIKSCC national working group.
Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar, in a virtual speech on the occasion of the week of the founding of Assocham, had insisted that a large number of farmers had demonstrated in support of the new laws. “Some organizations are involved in the protest movement. However, there will be a solution through discussion,” he said.
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