Indian farmers find govt talks unsatisfactory
Unions’ concerns over new agricultural laws remain unassuaged amid ongoing protests
Like fellow farmers camping outside New Delhi, the Indian capital, the lone woman in talks with the government on Jan 4 was not happy with the lack of results, except for scheduling the next meeting for Jan 8.
“We only took up the repeal issue,” said Kavitha Kuruganti, a representative of farmers who are protesting laws that government delegates again refused to roll back.
“It is not just about the demand of 40 farm unions who have been participating in the talks. It’s, in fact, the wish of over 450 farmer organizations from across the country,” she said.
The protests have been organized by the 40 farm unions that have been a party to the talks.
The failure to reach a breakthrough extended the farmers’ concerns about three agricultural laws that were passed by the Indian government late last year.
Farmers fear that with the new laws, under which large companies will be allowed to buy directly from farmers, the government intends to weaken traditional markets where their rice and wheat are guaranteed a minimum price, Reuters reported.
The government was represented in the talks by Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, and Som Prakash, junior minister for commerce and industry. The farmers were represented by various leaders from the farm unions.
Tomar said after the meeting that he remains hopeful of a solution in the next meeting and that the government wanted a discussion on legislation to take the talks forward.
Calling for efforts by both sides to reach a solution, Tomar said: “Both hands are needed to clap.”
Despite the coronavirus pandemic and bitter cold, thousands of farmers
have been blockading highways connecting New Delhi to northern India since Nov 26, obstructing transportation and hurting manufacturing businesses, among others.
“We will not return home until the laws are repealed,” said farmer leader Rakesh Tikait.
Ashok Gulati, an agriculture professor with the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, said there has been a gross communication failure on the part of the central government to explain to farmers how the new laws are intended to benefit them.
This communication gap was being
exploited by some political parties, he added.
The meeting on Jan 4 began with those in attendance observing two minutes of silence to pay respect to the more than 50 protesters who have died over the course of the dispute, many in road accidents and some due to cold weather or heart attacks.
During the meeting, the government listed various benefits from the three laws and market practices, while farmers’ representatives repeated their concerns that the new laws will weaken government-regulated wholesale markets and leave farmers
at the mercy of big corporations.
The farmers have also said big companies have been purchasing vast tracts of farmland in Punjab and Haryana states, where the farmers alleged the companies planned to undertake contract farming and set up private wholesale markets that would undermine government-run wholesale markets.
Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd, a top Indian conglomerate, said on Jan 4 that the company would always support the Indian farmers’ demand for a “fair and profitable price on a predictable basis” for their produce, and that the
company had no plans to enter corporate contract farming.
Although some politicians appealed to the central government to accept all demands of the protesting farmers, H.S. Shergill, an agriculture economist at the Institute for Development and Communication in Chandigarh, said a solution should be face-saving for both sides.
He suggested that the government announce a suspension of implementation of the laws until the concerns of the farmers are resolved.