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The protesting farmers’ will continue their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march on February 21 as they rejected the government proposal to purchase five crops at minimum support price (MSP) over the next five years. The farmer leaders said that after deliberations within their organisations, they have found that the proposals are not in favour of farmers.
“…After the discussion of both forums, it has been decided that if you analyse, there is nothing in the government’s proposal...This is not on the favour of farmers. We reject it,” farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal said.
Union Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda, commerce minister Piyush Goyal, and Minister of State for home affairs, Nityanand Rai held a meeting with farmers on Sunday. The meeting was also joined by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
During the meeting, the Centre pitched a five-year plan to buy pulses, maize, and cotton crops from them at the MSP.
“Cooperative societies like the NCCF and Nafed will contract with farmers who grow tur dal, urad dal, masoor dal or maize to buy their crop at MSP for the next five years,” Union food and public distribution minister Piyush Goyal told reporters after meeting with the farmers.
“Cereals like arhar or tur, urad, if brought under MSP, would lead to a reduction in imports, recover the depleted water level of Punjab, as well as provide economic pulses for consumers,” he said.
Stage set for confrontation
The breakdown of talks between the Centre and farmers’ sets the stage for their confrontation with the police at Shambhu border. The farmers, who began their protest on February 13, are camping at Shambhu border near Ambala since Haryana Police is preventing their movement ahead using tear gas shells, and moderate level of force.
Earlier, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, which is not participating in the on ground protest for now, also rejected the government proposal and said the Centre is attempting to divert and dilute the demands of the farmers.
“The Ministers are not ready to clarify whether the MSP they proposed is based on A2+FL +50% or C2+50%. There is no transparency in the discussion though discussions have taken place four times. This is against the democratic culture established by SKM during the 2020-21 historic Farmers’ Struggle at Delhi Borders. During those negotiations, every point of discussions and the stand of farmers were placed for the public information by the SKM,” the release added.
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Published: 19 Feb 2024, 09:50 PM IST
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