Farmers said the agenda of the meeting should also include amendments to be made and notified in the Commission for the Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance, 2020 to exclude farmers from its penal provisions.
For over three months, the three Delhi border points at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur have transformed into townships occupied by thousands of farmers from different parts of the country, mainly Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.
'Political parties are following the Divide and Rule policy to break the unity of farmers.'
The 36-year-old Sidhu is in the eye of a storm for being among the protesters who put up a religious flag atop the Red Fort on Republic Day.
The agriculture minister said the government's constant efforts are aimed at making farmers prosperous by increasing their income.
One lakh copies of the three agri laws were burnt at the Singhu border alone, said Paramjeet Singh of Samyukta Kisan Morcha.
Among the key demands of agitating farmers has been a legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP). The protest reached a crescendo when thousands of farmers from Punjab and elsewhere marched towards Delhi late last year and decided to block the main entry points once they were denied entry. The Centre, on its part, held 11 rounds of discussions with the protesters and even offered to amend some of the provisions without much success. With now one of their chief demands met, farmers have now moved on to force the government to concede on MSP.
The magnificent Jat community has taken his tears to its heart, observes Sudhir Bisht. In Tikait, they see their late leader's son, the son of their doughty farm leader Mahendra Singh Tikait, says Dr Sudhir Bisht.
Behind the movement are shock-workers functioning quietly to ensure that a seemingly spontaneous, apolitical, grassroots mobilisation sustains itself without dribbling into chaos or violence. Sai Manish lists some of them.
Addressing a press conference at the Singhu border protest site, farmer leaders warned of multiple actions if their main demands are not met. They said that only five per cent of the issues raised by them have so far been discussed in meetings with the government.
Chand pointed out that the government is willing to discuss the three farm laws clause by clause, and farmer leaders should consider this offer.
Asserting that the new farm laws are in the interest of the farming community, the government said obstacles do come whenever good things or measures are taken and it is taking longer to resolve the issue as farmers' leaders want a solution their own way.
With the protesting farmers staying put at the border point of the national capital for over six weeks now, a number of small business have sprung up at the site, the newest being sale of pro-protest badges and stickers.
'This confrontation could have been avoided by a less arrogant administration that initially listened, used whatever negotiating skills they had and tried to be more credible,' observes Ramesh Menon.
Sidhu was present at the Red Fort when a religious flag and a farmer flag were put at the flagpole at the historic monument, triggering massive outrage.
The development came a day after the protesting farmers rejected the Centre's offer to start talks as soon as they move to Burari and continued to stay put Singhu and Tikri borders of the national capital.
A large number of farmers stayed put outside the gates of the district headquarters in Karnal on Wednesday as they remained firm on their demand for action against IAS officer Ayush Sinha, who ordered a police lathi-charge on a group of peasants last month.
They noted that the exercise had begun in 2011 and an Inter-Ministerial Group submitted its recommendations in 2012 after meeting for 10 times.
As the farmers prepare to leave their protest sites on Delhi's borders on Saturday after the government repealed the farm laws and acceded to their other demands, many say they will reinstall their tents in their villages as a symbol of their long, arduous struggle.
SRK has totally gotten into his tour guide character!
The minister said that the last meeting held on December 30, 2020, happened in a cordial atmosphere and there is a possibility of positive results in the interest of farmers and of the country's farm sector at the next meeting.
The ruling has been handed down by a bench comprising Justices A K Mathur and Markandey Katju, who allowed the appeal of the Punjab government against the order of Punjab and Haryana High Court, which has held that daily wage tractor drivers are also entitled to the pay of regular drivers.
The farmers' acceptance of the proposal came hours after the Centre sent them a letter suggesting December 30 as the date for the dialogue, against December 29 the protesting unions wanted.
The company, in a BSE filing, said "the matter was resolved amicably through mutual dialogues and the matter has also been withdrawn by them from the conciliation officer, Mohali."
Without naming the Prime Minister or using his 'andolanjivi' phrase, Tikait said, "In Parliament, they are saying these are parjivis (parasites). Was Bhagat Singh who sacrificed his life for this nation a parjivi? What about 150 farmers who died during this agitation? Were they parjivis too? Had they gone to Delhi to agitate and die?"
Police said farmers have been allowed to hold peaceful protest at the Nirankari Ground in north Delhi.
'Only then will we withdraw the agitation.'
'If we are terrorists and Pakistanis and Khalistanis, why did your home minister talk to our core committee leaders?'
The SKM alleged that increased barricading, including digging trenches, fixing nails on roads, setting up barbed-wire fences, closing internal roads, stopping Internet services and "orchestrating protests through BJP-RSS workers" are part of "attacks" being organised by the government, its police and administration against the farmers.
From carrying portraits of their sons and husbands who have committed suicide due to agrarian distress to picketing to doing sewa 24x7 at langars, women have shown a rare determination not to capitulate before the government.
Mandeep Punia was arrested from the Singhu border on Sunday for allegedly misbehaving with the police personnel on duty at the farmers' protest site there, officials said.
The decision was taken at a meeting of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 40 farmer unions protesting at various Delhi border points against three farm laws.
The government's negotiations with protesting farm unions hit a roadblock on Friday as the farmer leaders stuck to their demands for a complete repeal of three farm laws they find pro-corporate and a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP), even as the Centre asked them to reconsider its proposal for putting the Acts on hold for 12-18 months.
Armed with hope and a revolutionary poem by noted Punjabi poet 'Pash', a farmer cycled nearly 400 km from Fardikot to the Tikri border to join the massive protest by peasants against the new farm laws.
A large number of farmers on Tuesday squatted at the gates of the district headquarters in Karnal, locked in a showdown with Haryana's Bharatiya Janata Party-led government over a police lathi-charge last month.
Referring to Modi, Adityanath and Union Home Minister Amit Shah as 'outsiders', the farmer leader said he has no objection if they become prime ministers after winning polls from Uttarakhand or Gujarat.
If eight states could join the VAT system much after the rollout date and after seeing how it works, why can't the same apply to states opposed to the farm laws, asks A K Bhattacharya.
Farmer leader Joginder Singh Ugrahan said told reporters after the meeting that the unions urged the government to repeal the three laws, but the Centre was unwilling to do so. "We decided to meet again on January 19 at 12 pm," he said.
With the talks between the Centre and the agitating farmer unions stalled since January, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Wednesday expressed readiness to resume the dialogue to resolve their objections to the three new agri laws, but the unions remained adamant on their demands for a repeal of the legislations and a legal guarantee on the minimum support price.
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