Govt invites unions for talks tomorrow
IN A LETTER TO THE FARMERS’ UNIONS, THE AGRI SECRETARY HAS INVITED THEM FOR TALKS AT 2PM ON WEDNESDAY
NEW DELHI: After a three-week hiatus, the Centre will resume talks with farmers’ unions on Wednesday in an attempt to end a politically challenging protest by farmers who have camped on the borders of the capital since November 26, demanding the repeal of three contentious laws the cultivators are concerned will weaken their bargaining power and leave them at the mercy of large agribusinesses.
Agriculture secretary Sanjay Agrawal sent out a letter to farm leaders on Monday, proposing the sixth round of negotiations on Wednesday, in response to an e-mail by the unions on December 26 in which they had agreed to restart negotiations and suggested a resumption of talks on Tuesday.
Talks will now resume at 2 pm in the capital’s Vigyan Bhavan conference venue.
In his letter, the farm secretary invited 40 leaders who represent the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, a platform of over 400 farm organisations involved in the month-long agitation, over a set of reforms they say will hurt their livelihoods.
“In the meeting, the government will discuss issues delineated by you and issues related to farmers in the three laws along with the system of MSP (mini
mum support price) as well as Commission for the Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance, 2020 and Electricity Amendment Bill 2020,” the government invitation to the farmers said..
The agriculture ministry’s invitation, a copy of which HT has seen, said the talks will be led by Union ministers. Three Union ministers — Narendra Singh Tomar, Piyush Goyal and Som Parkash — are likely to represent the government, an official said.
The farm ministry letter said officials will discuss issues related to farmers in the three laws, signalling the government’s broad strategy to find a solution by addressing points in the legislation that farmers may have concerns about.
Reacting to the letter, Avik Saha, the secretary of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, a platform of farm unions, said: “The letter of the government indicates that it is being clever with words and not willing to discuss the agenda proposed by farmers’ organisations and this exposes its double-speak.” The farmers’ platform however said it looked forward to Tuesday’s talks and hoped the government would come to the negotiating table with an “open mind”. The farmers walked away from the negotiations on December 8 after meeting home minister Amit Shah on December, claiming a stalemate.
Farm unions have launched one of the largest strikes in decades to demand that the Centre revoke the three contentious laws approved by Parliament in September.
The laws essentially change the way India’s farmers do business by creating free markets, as opposed to a network of decades-old, government marketplaces, allowing traders to stockpile essential commodities for future sales and laying down a national framework for contract farming.
These laws are the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020. Together, the laws will allow big corporations and global supermarket chains to buy directly from farmers, bypassing decades-old regulations.
Farmers say the reforms will make them vulnerable to exploitation by big corporations, erode their bargaining power and weaken the government’s procurement system, whereby the government buys staples, such as wheat and rice, at guaranteed rates, known as MSPs
In their December 26 email to the farm ministry, the farmers however stuck to their demand that talks must be geared towards a repeal of the laws. The farmers spelt out for issues on which they want discussions. They said the first issue they wanted discussions on were the “modalities (that are) to be adopted for the repeal of the three Central Farm Acts”.
Second, the unions want “mechanisms to be adopted to make remunerative MSP recommended by the National Farmers’ Commission into a legally guaranteed entitlement for all farmers and all agricultural commodities.”
These top two demands are the trickiest and are likely to be a test of the fate of negotiations.
Although, the government has made desperate attempts to restart negotiations with the unions, the government is not prepared to scrap its reforms agenda.
Instead, the government has proposed a set of concessions and amendments. These include greater oversight of proposed free markets and a written assurance on continuing the mechanism of MSP.
The farmers also want amendments in an ordinance to completely exclude farmers from any penalties for crop-residue burning, a major cause of pollution, they stated in their letter.