The agriculture minister invited farmers to another round of talks on December 3.
New Delhi:
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday called on farmers to end their protest against the new central laws, offering talks next week, even as police continued to fire tear gas and water cannons at a second day of fighting during the march to New Delhi.
“The government has always been willing to discuss issues with farmers. We have invited farmers’ organizations to another round of talks on December 3. I ask them to stop the turmoil in view of COVID-19 and winter,” Tomar said to the news agency. AND ME.
After two days of fighting, the authorities allowed peasants, some of whom threw stones and broke barricades, into the capital under police escort to hold a demonstration against agricultural reforms that they fear will leave them at the mercy of large corporations.
The police had deployed hundreds of officers at different entry points into the capital, parking trucks filled with sand and laying barbed wire to block the way for farmers.
Farmers are upset with the laws passed earlier this year, which means they are now free to sell their produce to anyone at any price, rather than to state-controlled markets at guaranteed prices.
They say new laws deregulating the vast agricultural sector will leave small producers vulnerable to corporate agribusiness and could lead to the withdrawal of support prices for staples like wheat and rice.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed this as a “complete transformation of the agricultural sector” that would empower “tens of millions of farmers” and encourage much-needed investment and modernization.
The government says there is no plan to eliminate wholesale markets and that farmers could sell at these yards as well as to large retailers like WalMart. He hopes to bring new investment to the agricultural sector and fix supply chains that lose a quarter of India’s products to waste.
“The new laws hold the promise of bringing a revolutionary change to the lives of farmers,” Tomar told ANI.
But the main opposition party in Congress, which is in power in Punjab, where many of the protesters come from, has argued that the change will unleash private corporations to exploit farmers.
(With inputs from agencies)
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