Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party's working committee member Ram Iqbal Singh on Thursday said there would have been no agitation by farmers had the Centre consulted them before enacting the new agricultural laws.
Under Urjit Patel, the then RBI Governor, the central bank had a habit of making complete about-turns on various issues, including electoral bonds and digital payments, former finance secretary Subash Chandra Garg said in his book titled 'We Also Make Policy: An Insider's Account of How the Finance Ministry Functions.' Citing some instances of about-turns by the then RBI Governor Patel, Garg in his book said, RBI had done so on the electoral bond issue and it had so in case of setting up of Payments Regulatory Board (PRB). RBI also made unilateral decisions like ordering complete data localization for participation in the payment system, Garg wrote in the book which will hit the stands on October 1.
Centre's move to form a 29-member panel on making the minimum support price (MSP) mechanism effective and keeping three positions vacant in it for SKM representatives has triggered strong disapproval from it.
Vinesh Phogat alleged on Sunday that the government is trying to protect Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
This form of government, where secrets and major decisions are kept from the Cabinet itself, appears to be continuing, which is why the speculation around this special session, asserts Aakar Patel.
Fifty-seven farmer organisations have supported the call given by the SKM, Yadav said.
Facing difficulty in procuring large quantities of rice required to fulfil its poll guarantee, the state government on Wednesday decided to pay cash into the beneficiaries' accounts at the rate of Rs 34 per kilo, for the additional 5kg of rice under the free rice scheme.
He also stressed that the government should talk to farmers over the issue of minimum support price (MSP) of crops and other matters.
The unions said the minimum support price (MSP) cannot be separated from the demand of repealing the contentious agriculture laws, asserting that the issue of a legal guarantee for the MSP is a key part of their agitation.
'Our demand is simple: Those private players (to whom 94 per cent of the farmers sell their produce) should also buy our produce at the MSP.'
The decision to increase the MSPs (Minimum Support Prices) was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. MSP is the rate at which the government buys the grain from farmers. Currently, the government fixes MSPs for 23 crops grown in both kharif and rabi seasons. Sowing of rabi (winter) crops begins from October immediately after the harvest of kharif (summer) crops.
Ghanwat, also a senior leader of Shetkari Sangathan, said he will mobilise one lakh farmers and bring them to Delhi in the next couple of months demanding farm reforms.
Capital markets regulator Sebi has extended the suspension of futures and options trading in seven agricultural commodities, including wheat and moong, for one more year till December 2023 in a bid to rein in prices. The other agricultural commodities suspended by Sebi are -- paddy (non-basmati), chana, crude palm oil, mustard seeds and their derivatives and soya bean and its derivatives. "The suspension of trading in the above contracts has been extended for one more year beyond December 20, 2022, i.e. till December 20, 2023," Sebi said in a statement on Wednesday.
The move came a day after Parliament approved two agriculture sector-reform bills which have been bitterly opposed by the opposition parties like Congress and TMC.
'Why did government not include a provision in the bills which categorically stated that no crop will be sold below the MSP in the open market?'
It also said that the SKM will take note of all developments and will hold its meeting soon and announce further decisions.
He also said the Centre has not answered the questions raised by him in the Lok Sabha on the issues of farmers and said its reply was a 'joke'.
The Congress on Friday promised that if the party is voted to power in Gujarat, where assembly elections are due by the yearend, it would waive farm loans of up to Rs 3 lakh and provide free electricity for 10 hours daily to farmers in the state.
He further stated that other details regarding the same will be disclosed after a meeting scheduled to take place on November 26, which marks the first anniversary of the farmers' protest against the three farm laws, the repeal of which was recently announced by the Centre earlier this month.
Congress leader Manish Tewari demanded that the government should provide Rs 5 crore compensation to the families of the farmers who died during the farm laws agitation
Chautala said he is 'quite hopeful' that the farmers protesting over the new agri-marketing laws will understand that when the Centre is giving written assurances, it 'a victory for their struggle'.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the government is committed towards procurement of agri crops at minimum support price (MSP) and termed it as an important part of the country's food security. He further said that efforts are being made to improve mandi infrastructure so that MSP buying continues in a scientific way.
"Mr Modi has utterly failed. It is clear by now that we (NDA) cannot deliver more than this (since 2014)," he said.
From the seas to the stars, this partnership will now be deepened by the defining role of technology, the statement said.
Tomar said the union leaders kept insisting on repeal of the three farm laws, but the government side tried to explain them the benefits of the Acts and sought to know specific problems faced by the farmers.
Enthused by higher than expected GDP numbers in the fourth quarter of 2022-23, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran on Wednesday said India's economic growth may exceed the initial estimate of 6.5 per cent in the current fiscal and the country can look for another year of solid economic performance.
Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait exhorted farmers to be ready for a massive nationwide agitation over their demands as a 75-hour sit-in by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha in Lakhimpur Kheri seeking the removal of Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra and a law on minimum support price (MSP) entered the second day on Tuesday.
The announcement came after the protesting farmers received a letter from the central government, with promises of forming a committee on minimum support price (MSP) and withdrawing cases against them immediately.
According to the ministry's statement, Tomar thanked the BKU (Kisan) leaders for coming out in support of the Farm Acts and said these laws have been welcomed in various states across the country.
Modi had clearly not come to terms with the limits to a prime minister's powers, any prime minister's powers however strong numbers he may have in Parliament, observes Virendra Kapoor.
'Why should the government keep these laws on hold for 1.5 years when they are so disastrous for the interests and well-being of farmers?'
Tikait says PM Modi was supporter of MSP law when he was CM
In the all-party meeting on Tuesday, Opposition parties demanded discussions on price rise, unemployment and Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota among other issues, sources said.
"Our call of tractor march to Parliament still stands. A final decision on the future course of the agitation and MSP issues will be taken in a meeting of the SKM at Singhu Border on Sunday," farmer leader and SKM core committee member Darshan Pal told PTI on Saturday.
India has put curbs on wheat exports through the government route, starting November last year. This comes amid a surge in domestic prices of the cereal. In December, India exported 391 tonnes of wheat to Bangladesh and Bhutan. In November 2022, it had exported 375 tonnes of wheat only to Bhutan.
Though the Bills of Punjab and Rajasthan have a lot of similarities, the one approved by the Chhattisgarh Assembly is structurally different. None of the three has tried to address a key demand of the agitating farmers in full, which is to make all payments below the MSP, within and outside mandis, illegal.
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has held a series of meetings with MPs and Union ministers from Punjab and Haryana and surrounding states, and virtual interactions with state agricultural ministers of all BJP-led National Democratic Alliance ruled states where he briefed them about the merits of the two bills, the sources said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi should for once express grief in Parliament over the death of around 750 farmers during the months-long anti-farm law protests at Delhi's borders, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said on Saturday.
He also said that train services will resume after the state government and protesting farmer unions assure the safety of the tracks. Tomar and Union Food, Commerce and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal held a day-long meeting with representatives of various farmer unions at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
In a series of tweets, the Delhi Traffic Police said Tikri and Dhansa borders are closed for traffic movement, while Jhatikara border is open only for two-wheelers and pedestrians.
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