Call off stir now

Refer to ‘Victory for farmers’; the government offer to hold back the three farm laws for one and a half year is a belated step but in the right direction. It is certainly a victory for farmers who succeeded in their task by making the Centre tread the right path instead of a bumpy road chosen through contentious laws. Now is the turn of the agitating farmer unions to call off the stir and put the brakes on the proposed tractor march on January 26, keeping in view the sanctity and tradition of the Republic Day celebrations. — Anil Vinayak, Amritsar

Grammar of anarchy

BR Ambedkar, in his last address to the Constituent Assembly, had said that if there were constitutional remedies and provisions, we should not apply unconstitutional remedies. This is fit for our farmers who are protesting against the new farm laws. All options are open to them, but they are so stubborn that no option is acceptable to them. The government has now offered to suspend the laws. But they don’t want to listen to the government or the panel appointed by the Supreme Court. They have adopted the way of anarchy. The farmers should leave their stubborn attitude and follow the advice of Ambedkar. — Narender Kumar, Joginder Nagar

State subject

Refer to the article ‘Constitutionally, farm laws on shaky ground’; the writer has emphasised that it is the responsibility of the apex court to suo motu examine the constitutionality of farm laws passed by Parliament and has rightly questioned the constitutionality of the laws since ‘agriculture’ is a State subject. I would like to add that ‘market’ is also a State subject (list II, item no. 28). The dictionary meaning of the word market is ‘gathering for sale of commodity; space for it’. ‘Trade areas’ defined and created by these farm laws are also space for these same activities. Hence, ‘market’ and ‘trade areas’ are synonymous. Therefore, on this ground, too, the enactment of these laws is outside Parliament’s legislative domain. Legal experts must clarify. — Balbir S Jawaharpur, Mohali

Consider proposal

Reference to ‘Govt offers to put farm laws on hold for 1.5 yrs’; if the government agrees to put on hold the contentious farm laws, till the current ruling dispensation is in the saddle, it should be a mutually acceptable solution to the protracted deadlock, taking a huge toll both in terms of loss of life and economy. At the time of the General Election, the government may consider it prudent to repeal the laws to assuage the hurt feelings of the farming community with vote-bank consideration in mind. At this stage, when both the farmers and the government aren’t ready to budge from their stance, it could be considered an acceptable middle ground. Apart from putting the laws in abeyance, all the cases registered against the protesting farmers and their supporters must be withdrawn to ease tensions. It could be considered a win-win situation for both sides. It would be in the national interest if this intractable issue gets resolved amicably. — Roshan Lal Goel, Ladwa

Assured MSP must

Apropos of ‘Farmers deserve assured minimum price’, assured MSP is key to farmers’ marketing problems, for which the government has to create an effective and practicable network of procurement, storage bins, silos, etc. Creating matching storage facilities is not rocket science, but all governments have failed to do so, and as a result, grains worth thousands of crores are wasted every year. Many agencies directly dealing with agricultural products, specially staple food, like wheat and paddy, are involved in corrupt transactions under the cover of shortage of storage capacity. Farmers, especially the small ones, should get the payments of their produce on the spot. In an agrarian state, farmer suicides are a shame. Their problems must be studied and resolved. — BM SINGH, AMRITSAR

‘Sadak suraksha’

The Punjab Government deserves kudos for ordering the pasting of red reflective tapes on the horns of stray cattle so that these could be spotted by motorists in the dark. ‘Sadak Suraksha, Jeevan Raksha’ and National Road Safety Month are being organised in the state. To curtail deaths due to accidents, I suggest the following: no loaded tractor-trailer be allowed to ply from 6 pm to 7 am; licence of tractor drivers should be checked; and SSPs and DTOs of each district should impose penalty on traffic violators. These can help minimise accidents. — KK MITtAL, BATHINDA

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