Stir to continue even if SC stays farm laws: Agri unions
NEW DELHI: Farmer leaders on Monday said they would continue their agitation even if the government or the Supreme Court stays the implementation of the new agri laws.
The farmer leaders, who said they were “sharing their personal opinion”, were also of the view that a stay is “not a solution” as it is only for a fixed period of time.
They were reacting after the Supreme Court indicated that it may stay the implementation of the contentious farm laws and refused to grant more time to the Centre to explore the possibility of an amicable solution saying it has already granted the government a “long rope”.
“We welcome the Supreme Court observation, but ending the protest is not an option. Any stay is only for a fixed period of time... till the issue is taken up by the court again,” Haryana Bharatiya Kisan Union President Gurnam Singh Chaduni said.
The farmers want the laws to be repealed completely. The protest will continue even if the gov
Indian Farmers Union (Mansa) chief
ernment or the Supreme Court stays their implementation, he said.
Bhog Singh Mansa, president of Indian Farmers Union (Mansa), said a stay on the laws is “no big deal”.
“A stay is not a solution. We are here to get these laws scrapped completely... the government has in a way already agreed to scrap the laws when it said it is willing to incorporate as many amendments as farmers want,” he said.
“We appeal to the Supreme Court to terminate these laws as these are not valid constitutionally,” Mansa said, adding the protest will continue till the “the laws are not repealed or the BJP government completes its tenure”.
Punjab Kisan Union president Ruldu Singh Mansa echoed similar sentiments, saying the agitation started with the demand of scrapping the agri laws and “it will end only when we win this fight”.
Darshan Pal, president of Krantikari Kisan Union, said the farmer leaders are consulting their lawyers and a formal response will be given after the SC pronounces its verdict.
Pulling up the Centre for its handling of the farmers’ protest, the apex court on Monday said it is “extremely disappointed” with the way negotiations between them were going and will constitute a committee headed by a former Chief Justice of India to resolve the impasse.
“We are not experts on economy. You tell us whether the government is going to put on hold farm laws or we will do this,” the bench said. “We are sorry to say that the Centre has not been able to solve the problem and the farmers’ agitation,” it said. issued the supply order on behalf of the Union health ministry in the name of Prakash Kumar Singh, additional director, government and regulatory affairs at SII.
The deal is for procuring 11 million doses that are expected to cover the first phase of the vaccination drive to inoculate 10 million healthcare workers across the country.
The government is keeping a margin of about 10%.
The central government will bear the cost of vaccination for the initial 30 million individuals (health care and frontline workers). The state governments will not have to shell out money for this group. The Union finance ministry has already approved ₹480 crore for operational cost which is over and above the cost of the Covid-19 vaccine that central government is paying for.
Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer, SII, had earlier said that the company had offered the Indian government a special price of 200 for the first 100 million doses of Covishield, less than the $3 it had quoted earlier.
In the private market, SII is likely to sell for a ₹1,000 per dosep. The export price is expected to be between $3-5 depending on the different countries the company signs deals with.
India had recently granted emergency use authorisation to two vaccines, SII’S Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. Two other vaccines — Zydus Cadila’s ZYCOV-D and Russia’s Sputnik V — are still in trials in the country.
While interacting with the CMS, Modi the two already approved made-in-india Covid-19 vaccines are more cost-effective than any other in the world and have been developed as per the country’s needs. “Our experts have taken all precautions to provide the countrymen with effective vaccines,” he said.
An official told PTI that the health ministry is also likely to soon sign a purchase order for Covaxin. Meetings for this was underway, the official said, even as the government’s decision to approve the homegrown Bharat Biotech vaccine has met with criticism from health experts for the lack of data showing its efficacy.
India is rolling out the world’s largest Covid-19 vaccination drive across the country on January 16, in what Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has called the world’s largest inoculation programme.
Close to 300 million high-risk people are on the government’s priority list; they will be vaccinated in the next seven-eight months. After vaccinating health care and frontline workers, priority will be given to those above 50 years of age and the under-50 population groups with co-morbidities.
“He will return after the first Test against Australia in Adelaide,” board secretary Jay Shah had said in a press release in November.
Sharma and Kohli, both 32, first met on the sets of a commercial.
petitioners have raised any such issues,” Venugopal said.
The bench however observed, “We are doing this because you have failed to solve the problem. The Union of India has to take the responsibility. The laws have resulted into a strike and now you have to solve the strike”.
The bench also said, “Of course, usually we are against stay of any laws”.
The top court said it may stay the implementation of these laws as talks between the government and farmers are “breaking down” because the Centre wants to discuss these legislations point by point, while the farmers want them to be repealed.
When the attorney general said that laws cannot be stayed in such manner, the bench said, “We are at this position. We are sorry to say that you have not been able to solve this problem. You as the Union of India have failed to solve the problem and the agitation.”
The bench referred to the apex court’s last year order staying the implementation of 2018 Maharashtra law granting reservation to Marathas in education and jobs. It asked Venugopal to give a list of earlier judgments dealing with the issue of stay on implementation of law.
Appearing for a group of farmers, senior lawyer Dushyant Dave told the court that over 400 unions from across the country and over 100,000 people were participating in the protests. “It is a question of farmers’ existence.”
The bench said that till date it has not been told anything by the Centre on the proposal given by the top court to keep the implementation of these laws at abeyance for some time.
“We are still thinking it is equally important that we stay the implementation of law without staying the laws,” the bench said.
To this, Venugopal said, “This amounts to same thing”.
The top court said it will constitute a committee headed by a former CJI to resolve the impasse.
It suggested that stay on implementation of these laws will help the committee in finding solution.
“After the implementation of farm laws are stayed, you can carry on protest and we don’t want anyone to say that we stifled the protest,” the bench told the advocates appearing for several farmer organisations.
The apex court, which said it will pass orders on the issue concerning farm laws and farmers’ protest in part in the matter, asked the parties to suggest twothree names of former CJIS including former CJI RM Lodha who can head the apex court-appointed panel.
The court was hearing a clutch of pleas challenging the new farm laws as well as the ones raising issues related to the ongoing agitation at Delhi borders.
The eighth round of talks between the Centre and the farmer unions on January 7 headed nowhere as the Centre ruled out repealing the contentious laws, while the farmers’ leaders said they are ready to fight till death and their ‘ghar waapsi’ will happen only after ‘law waapsi’.
The apex court had earlier issued notice and sought the Centre’s response on a batch of pleas against the three contentious farm laws -- the Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act.
A stay on the implementation of the legislation will be a respite to farmers who have camped on a major roadway while braving the cold on the outskirts of the national capital New Delhi. A resolution of the issue from the court could pave a way out from the current impasse for the government.