Farmers name 5-member panel that will talk to Modi government on MSP

The leaders made it clear that farmers will not budge from protest sites till the government meets their demands.

New Delhi, First Published Dec 4, 2021, 5:23 PM IST

Samyukta Kisan Morcha, the umbrella body of farmer unions protesting against the Centre, has announced the five-member committee that will hold talks with the Narendra Modi government on the Minimum Support Price issue. The members of the committee include Shiv Kumar Kakka, Balbir Singh Rajewal, Ashok Dhawle, Gurnaam Singh Chaddhuni and Yudhvir Singh. farmer unions will meet again on December 7.

The leaders made it clear that farmers will not budge from protest sites till the government meets their demands. According to media reports, Union Home Minister Amit Shah dialled up farmers leaders on Friday night and invited them for talks.

Addressing the media after their meeting at the Singhu border, SKM members said that there were some other demands that farmers had made when they began their agitation. Among the demands was legislation from the Centre guaranteeing Minimum Support Price, scrapping of the Electricity Bill 2020 which, according to SKM leaders, would increase the cost of the power utilisation by farmers and people across the country, and providing alternate means to farmers to deal with stubble burning.

The SKM leaders also noted that hundreds of farmers had been booked in cases in Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, and demanded that the cases be withdrawn. This issue was among the top agenda during SKM's meeting at the Sighu border. Besides, among the other decisions taken at the meeting was to seek compensation and memorial for the farmers who had died during the course of the year-long agitation. The government, however, earlier this week informed Parliament that they did not have statistics about the lives lost during the farmers' agitation.

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Last Updated Dec 4, 2021, 5:23 PM IST