In order to acquire pulses, maize, and cotton crops at Minimum Support Prices (MSP), the central government proposed a five–year plan to the federal government. During their late-night meeting with three Union ministers yesterday, the agitators said that they would mobilize throughout the nation to overcome the impasse in negotiations with the farmers who are protesting. According to Union Food Minister Piyush Goyal, the purchase will be made under a contractual arrangement and only from farmers who diversify from wheat and paddy.
Farmers were given the suggestion following “out-of-the-box thinking” by a panel consisting of Minister of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Arjun Munda, Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai. Goyal said that while the discussions were “positive,” the representatives of the farmers brought up a number of issues.
The proposal from the Center will be discussed by farmer leaders from the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha at their forums on February 19–20. Before reaching a decision, they want to consult specialists. After this progress in negotiations, they also put a temporary stop to the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march.
According to the leaders, there would be no caps on the purchases made through NCCF and Nafed.
However, it needs to be made clear if the purchases would be made from the entire nation or just Punjab and Haryana. Only farmers from Punjab and Haryana are in the forefront of the present revolt.
Farmer leaders stated that purchases will come from all throughout the nation, but they omitted to specify that this would only apply to farmers who expand their operations beyond growing wheat and paddy.
In a video message, Abhimanyu Kohar, a spokesman for the political Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), one of the primary factions driving the current agitation, said, “We have received a proposal from the three Central ministers after the latest round of talks on Nafed and NCCF purchasing entire quantities of masoor, urad, arhar, cotton and maize all over India at MSP for the next five years. We will now discuss this among our Union members and come back with a view”.
Kohar also said,”We have told them that we can wait till February 21, and after that, the farmers will start marching towards Delhi from their current positions”.
In Chandigarh on Sunday night, the central team of ministers and the restless farmers held their fourth round of talks. The farmers insisted that the government should not waste time and should find a way to address their demands, which included securing a legal guarantee for the Minimum Support Price for crops.
The discussions with farmer leaders ended well into midnight and included participation from Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Arjun Munda, Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai.
