The farmer unions have written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking immediate resumption of talks with the Government over their six demands.
The demand includes a law guaranteeing minimum support price (MSP) for all farmers, withdrawal of the Electricity Amendment Bill, compensation to those farmers who died during protests, sacking and arrest of union minister Ajay Mishra, withdrawal of cases against farmers and building a memorial for the protesters who lost their lives during the agitation.
In a related development, Shetkari Sanghatan president and a member of the Supreme Court-appointed committee on farm laws Anil Ghanwat on Monday said he will decide on whether to release the panel's report after analysing the legal consequences and claimed that the two other members have given him the freedom to take a call.
In the letter, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the umbrella organization of the farmer unions, demanded that the government should immediately resume talks with farmers.
While thanking PM Modi for his decision, the SKM, in the letter, said, "After 11 rounds of talks, you chose the path of unilateral declaration rather than a bilateral solution. MSP-based on the comprehensive cost of production should be made a legal entitlement of all farmers for all agricultural produce so that every farmer of the country can be guaranteed the MSP announced by the government for their entire crop. Withdraw the draft 'Electricity Amendments Bill, 2020/2021'," the letter read.
It also sought removal of penal provisions against farmers in the 'Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act, 2021'. The SKM's demands included the sacking and arrest of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra, whose son is an accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
"Thousands of farmers have been implicated in hundreds of cases during this movement (June 2020 till date) in Delhi, Haryana, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh and several other states. These cases should be withdrawn immediately."During this movement, about 700 farmers have died. There should be compensation and rehabilitation support for their families. Land should be allotted at the Singhu Border to build a memorial for the deceased farmers," read the letter.
Meanwhile, Ghanwat who met with two other members of the committee said that they discussed in detail whether to make the report public or not. "The other two members gave me the freedom to take a call on this issue. I will decide after analysing the legal consequences, if any," Ghanwat said. The other two members of the committee are Ashok Gulati (agri economist and former chairman of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices) and Pramod Kumar Joshi (agri economist and Director for South Asia at International Food Policy Research Institute).
Ghanwat also stated that he was not against minimum support price (MSP), but open-ended procurement was a problem. He said if a law on MSP is made as demanded by protesting farm unions, all farmers would demand MSP on their crops and nobody would be in a position to earn anything out of it. His statement came in the wake of farm leaders stating the year-old agitation would continue until issues such as legal guarantee for MSP were not resolved.
He argued that if the government agrees to the demand, other farmers might come up with similar demands.