Thursday, 09 December 2021 | Rajesh Kumar | New Delhi
The agitating farmers are all but ready to wind up their year-long protest within the next 24 hours. The farmers on Wednesday agreed to the Centre’s second draft proposal on their pending demands. They will meet on Thursday to take a formal decision to end their protest.
According to farmers, an announcement on ending the protests would be made after getting a formal letter from the Centre. The Government in its revised draft has responded to all points raised by the farmers’ groups, except the one related to the Lakhimpur incident.
After a meeting of the core committee of the farmers’ groups, Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni said the earlier draft from the Central Government on pending demands was not acceptable to them and a fresh proposal was received from the Centre on Wednesday.
“We are in agreement with the Government regarding our demands. We will decide about suspending the agitation after the meeting tomorrow. No decision has been taken yet on calling off the agitation. Another meeting of SKM will be to be held on Thursday at 12 noon,” Chaduni said.
Another core committee member, Yudhvir Singh said, “The ball is now in the Government’s court and a final decision will be taken on Thursday.
In a statement, the SKM said a consensus has been achieved on the Central Government’s draft regarding farmers’ demands. “Consensus has been reached on Government’s fresh proposal. Now, a formal communication signed on the Government’s letterhead is awaited. The SKM will meet again tomorrow at twelve noon, at Singhu Border, to take a formal decision thereafter to lift the morchas,” the SKM said in a statement.
The Centre in its second draft agreed that cases lodged against farmers during the protests would be withdrawn with immediate effect by Central agencies. The States governments-Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh have agreed to withdraw cases against farmers. It will also appeal to other State Governments to withdraw the cases against them.
The Centre said as far as compensation is concerned, the State Government’s – Uttar Pradesh and Haryana have agreed on this issue.
The farmers had also underlined the need for financial compensation (to the families of the, reportedly, more than 700 growers who died in the protests) along the lines of that offered by the Congress Government in Punjab; the State has given Rs five lakh and a job to a family member.
The Centre has assured that electricity amendment bill would not be tabled in Parliament without consulting farmers groups. It also assured that the minimum support price would not be reduced and a committee will decide how to make it more effective with the consultation with farmers. On the question of the constitution of the MSP committee, the farmers have emphasised only members of the SKM (in addition to officials from the Centre, concerned States, and agricultural experts) can be chosen. This is to counter the inclusion of those farmers who supported the farm laws.
The stand-down comes after a stunning series of U-turns by the Government – from repealing the farm laws to withdrawing police cases against the farmers and, crucially, offering a written guarantee to consider their long-standing demand to make MSP, or minimum support price.
On Tuesday, the SKM had demanded clarification on certain points in the Government’s proposal, including on the precondition set for the withdrawal of “fake” cases against farmers.
Farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have been protesting at the borders of the national Capital since November 26 last year to demand repeal of the three farm laws.
