Farmers’ Protest: SKM to hold ‘urgent’ meeting at 10 am, decision on fate of agitation likely

Samyuykt Kisan Morcha’s five-member panel is scheduled to hold an urgent meeting at 10 am in New Delhi today. The umbrella body of over 40 farmer unions is expected to take a decision on the fate of the year-long protests against the farm laws, which have now been repealed by the Centre.

On Tuesday, the SKM, which has been spearheading the farmer protests at the borders of Delhi for more than a year now, said it had received a written proposal from the government which was discussed at a meeting of 32 farm unions at the Singhu border protest site.

Indicating that most demands had been met, the SKM said it was seeking “further clarifications on a few points” and would meet again Wednesday, hoping for a “positive response” from the government. According to the SKM, the central government has agreed to accept most of the demands but they will wait for its response on some issues, including MSP and withdrawal of cases against the protesters.

The government sent a proposal, it was discussed and presented before all members of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal said. The government’s proposal said that it will form a committee to look into the demand for a legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) and the panel will include farmer organisations outside the SKM, government officials and representatives of states, he said.

After the announcement of repealing three contentious farm laws, the SKM had written to the PM on November 21 raising six demands – legal guarantee of MSP for all produce based on C2+50% formula; withdrawal of draft Electricity Amendment Bill, 2020/2021; removal of the penal provisions on farmers in the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act 2021; withdrawal of false cases registered against the farmers over the course of the ongoing movement; dismissal and arrest of Union Minister of State Ajay Mishra Teni in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri incident; compensation and rehabilitation to the families of the who died during the farm movement; allocation of land for a memorial to them at Singhu.

The SKM had formed a five-member panel on Saturday to hold talks with the government on the pending demands of the protesting farmers, including a legal guarantee on MSP for crops, compensation to the kin of the farmers who died during the agitation against three agriculture laws and the withdrawal of cases against the protesters. The five-member panel of the SKM has farmer leaders Balbir Singh Rajewal, Ashok Dhawle, Shiv Kumar Kakka, Gurnam Singh Chaduni and Yudhvir Singh.