Govt blinks, farmers adamant

Significant changes in new laws offering written assurance on MSP, APMC-like tax, protection to farm land not accepted

NEW DELHI: The Union government offered broad concessions to farmers, proposing to amend two farm-reform laws and a bill pending in Parliament to a bid to end weeks of protests, but farm unions stuck to their demand of scrapping the three pro-market legislations they say will hurt their livelihoods. With negotiations locked in an impasse, a long battle looms. Farm unions on Wednesday vowed to scale up protests by December 14 by blocking all highways into New Delhi and occupying toll plazas in large numbers.

The government has deregulated farm markets, giving more space to private traders, to spur investments in a farm sector dependent on subsidies. Farmers have opposed the new changes, saying they will be swallowed up by big corporations. On Wednesday, the government appeared to address most of the farmers’ concerns. It offered in writing concessions it was willing to make. It proposed giving states greater role in so-called free markets, and a written assurance to continue the system of minimum support prices (MSP), which offers farmers state-set assured prices for staples. Another key offer is to bring additional legal safeguards for farmers’ rights engaging in contract farming “if needed”, including a bar on any confiscation of farm land to recover dues, and possible immunity to farmers from penalties for crop-residue burning, which causes pollution.

In the letter signed by Vivek Aggarwal, joint secretary in the agriculture ministry, the government said it would make a clutch of amendments to the laws to make farmers more confident of facing the markets. But the farmer unions — which cancelled Wednesday’s scheduled talks after an informal meeting with home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday could not break the deadlock — remained adamant.