Farm stir likely headed for final act as leaders meet on Wednesday

The year-long farmer agitation at Delhi’s borders seemed headed for a final closure on Tuesday till the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) — the main group spearheading the protests — raised some minor irritants to a fresh set of proposals sent by the government on the remaining demands.

A final call on the agitation and with it the blockade of roads will be taken at another round of meeting of the SKM on Wednesday at 2 pm, said some leaders.

“Around noon on Tuesday, we received a fresh set of proposals from the government on our remaining demands — chief among which are withdrawal of all cases on protesting farmers in whichever states they have been filed, compensation for dead farmers on the lines of what has been announced by the Punjab government, constitution of a panel on minimum support price (MSP), and formal withdrawal of cases lodged against farmers for stubble burning. We discussed all the proposals sent by the government and have pointed out some minor irritants in them. Once they are clarified, we will take a further call on Wednesday,” Ashok Dhawale, president of All India Kisan Sabha — one of the largest farmer groups — and participant in the SKM, told reporters.

Morcha leaders said there are three basic irritants to the proposal sent by the government.

First, while the government has suggested that all cases against protesting farmers be withdrawn once the agitation is called off, SKM wants a time-bound guarantee on that. Two, the SKM does not want any representative from those farmer groups that have supported the now-repealed farm Acts to be part of the MSP committee. Three, while the government has in-principle agreed to compensate the families of farmers who died during the agitation, SKM wants it to commit to a compensation package on the lines of the one announced by the Punjab government.

Earlier, news agency PTI reported that farmer leader Kulwant Singh Sandhu told reporters after the SKM meeting that the protesting farmer unions have arrived at a consensus on the future course of the agitation since nearly all their demands have been met, but a formal announcement would be made on Wednesday.

“Nearly all demands raised by us have been met... Letter (from government with assurances on farmer demands) has been received. A consensus has been reached. A final decision will be announced on Wednesday,” Sandhu told reporters.

Another farmer leader and SKM member said the agitation is likely to be called off on Wednesday as there have been some positive responses from the government on farmer demands, reported PTI.

SKM flags 3 ‘irritants’ in Centre’s proposals
 

• The government has suggested that all cases against protesting farmers will be withdrawn once the agitation is called off, but Samyukt Kisan Morcha wants a time-bound guarantee
 

• It does not want any representative from those farmer groups that have supported the now-repealed farm Acts to be part of the MSP committee
 

• SKM wants the government to commit to a compensation package on the lines of the one announced by the Punjab government for the families of farmers who died during the agitation