Guarantee on MSP, loan waiver among 12 demands on agenda of Centre’s talks with farmers

Tribune News Service

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, February 11

As the Centre and farmers prepare to discuss the demands raised by the latter, the government has reportedly already accepted five of their 17 demands.

Discussion on the remaining 12 demands will be held during a meeting of a Central team comprising ministers Piyush Goyal, Arjun Munda and Nityanand Rai and leaders of farmer unions, led by Jagjit Singh Dallewal of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Sarwan Singh Pandher of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, on Monday evening.

Main demands

• Legal guarantee for MSP on all crops and complete loan waiver of farmers
• Fixing crop prices based on the Swaminathan Commission formula
• FRP and SAP of sugarcane to be fixed according to the same formula
• Dismissal of Union Minister Ajay Mishra and cancellation of bail to his son Ashish Mishra for Lakhimpur Kheri incident
• Land in Delhi to construct a memorial for the “martyrs of the year-long stir”

Five ‘accepted’ at last meet

• Rs 10 lakh relief to farmers injured in Lakhimpur Kheri
• Cancellation of FIRs during the 2020-21 Kisan Morcha
• Reilef and job for families of farmers killed in the stir
• No implementation of the Electricity Amendment Bill
• Imposing penalties on firms selling substandard seeds

“The decision on the ‘Dilli Chalo’ morcha on February 13 will be taken only after we know what the Centre has to offer. We have been waiting for legal guarantee for the MSP for two years now and our patience is running thin. Our tractor-trolleys are ready in each village and town, ready to march to Delhi,” Dallewal told The Tribune from Sangrur, where he was overseeing preparations for the morcha.

The issues that are to be taken up at the meeting include legal guarantee for the MSP on the purchase of all crops and fixing their prices based on the Swaminathan Commission formula, FRP and SAP of sugarcane to be fixed according to the same formula, complete loan waiver for farmers and farm labourers, dismissal of minister Ajay Mishra from the Union Cabinet and cancellation of bail of his son Ashish Mishra for the Lakhimpur Kheri incident and a piece of land to be given in Delhi to create a memorial for the “martyrs of the year-long Kisan Morcha”.

Besides, issues like exclusion of agriculture sector from pollution laws, increase in allowance for reducing import duty in agriculture commodities, social security pension for farmers, premium for crop insurance to be paid by the government, implementation of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, employment of 200 days under MGNREGA and implementation of the Seventh Schedule of Constitution.

The demands that have been ‘accepted’ by the Centre include grant of Rs 10 lakh compensation to farmers injured in Lakhimpur Kheri, cancellation of FIRs during the 2020-21 Kisan Morcha, compensation and job for families of farmers killed in the agitation, no implementation of the Electricity Amendment Bill, improving quality of seeds on all crops and imposing penalties on companies manufacturing and selling substandard seeds.

During the February 8 meeting of the Central team of ministers with the farm leaders here, the former had offered to set up a four-member high-level committee to look into the 12 demands. The Centre had offered to form a committee of the Union Power Secretary, the Secretary, Food and Public Distribution, Agriculture Secretary and Home Secretary, to look into the demands.

Rejecting this offer, Dallewal said forming such committees were just a delaying tactic. “They formed a committee to give legal guarantee for the MSP on all crops two years ago. Nothing came out of it. The Prime Minister, when he was Gujarat CM, himself advocated for this and for fixing crop prices on the Swaminathan Commission formula. Now that he is PM, he can surely do it,” he said.

Cm to skip meeting

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who acted as an interlocutor between the Centre and farm unions last Thursday, is unlikely to be present at the meeting on Monday

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