To go ahead with ‘peaceful’ R-Day tractor march
Agitating farmer unions on Sunday remained firm on holding a tractor rally on the Republic Day and vowed to continue their stir till the Agri laws are repealed, even as Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar urged them to discuss “alternatives” to scrapping the legislation at the next meeting scheduled for January 19.
“We are prepared to sit in protest till May 2024… Our demand is that the three laws be taken back and the government provide a legal guarantee on the MSP,” Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait said. The next Lok Sabha elections in the country will be due around April-May 2024.
The Supreme Court in scheduled to hear on Monday a plea of the central government, filed through the Delhi Police, seeking an injunction against the proposed tractor march or any other kind of protest by farmers “which seeks to disrupt the gathering and celebrations” of Republic Day on January 26.
Addressing the media at Singhu border protest site, union leader Yogendra Yadav said, “We will carry out a tractor parade on the Outer Ring Road in Delhi on Republic Day. The parade will be very peaceful.”
“There will be no disruption of the Republic Day parade. The farmers will put up the national flag on their tractors,” he said. Stressing that the farmer unions should give up their “stubborn” stand after the apex court’s stay on the laws on January 12, Agriculture Minister Tomar said they should come for a clause by clause discussion on Tuesday.
“Now that the Supreme Court has stayed the implementation of these laws, then there is no question of being stubborn,” Tomar told reporters. The government wants farmer leaders to come for a clause by clause discussion at the next meeting on January 19. Except for the demand of repealing the laws, the government is ready to consider “seriously and with an open heart” other alternatives, he said.
Farmers from Assam, Punjab in State to create awareness
Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, JAN 17 (NPN): Two farmers from Punjab and one from Assam have reached Nagaland to meet local farmers and make them aware about the new farm laws which, according to them, were not beneficial for the farming community.
They said they reached Nagaland on Saturday to inform local farmers about the ongoing farmers’ protest in Delhi that is on since November 26, where farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are participating and who have declared that their protest would continue till the Central government repeals the farm laws.
Interacting with media persons at Hotel Saramati here on Sunday the farmers from Punjab said they wanted to create awareness about the farm laws and minimum support price (MSP), as many farmers in the country were not aware of it.
Manjinder Singh Randhawa, who is from Punjab, said when they met farmers of other states, they found that they were not aware about MSP. “So we are travelling to create awareness about the farm laws,” he added.
While clarifying that they respected Supreme Court and Constitution of India, the trio asserted that they would not agree to the committee formed by the apex court recently as their demand for repealing the farm laws lay with the Centre. As the Centre had enacted the farm laws, therefore they said their fight was with the Central government.
Explaining the disadvantages of the new farm laws, the visiting team said farmers only in Punjab and Haryana were getting MSP.
“We have come to know that farmers have no knowledge about it. Farmers do not get the benefits as there are no mandis in other States. So, we are trying to create awareness. In Punjab and Haryana, there are government mandis where they sell their produce. But in other States, it is not there. And since there are no mandis, farmers do not get better price for their produce and incur losses,” one of the visiting farmers pointed out.
They also raised concern that private players will exploit farmers under the new farm laws since they were not entitled to pay any taxes. They alleged that farmers would be compelled to sell their produce at a lesser price under the new laws.
Abhilash Rajkhowa from Assam said the government says it would remove the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) and farmers will not pay any tax. But in reality, he alleged that government markets would perish and only private parties would survive and they would exploit the farmers.
He demanded that MSP should be legalized all over the country and APMCs should be created in all States across the country so that living standards of the farmers could be raised.
The visiting farmers said the Central government was not ready to repeal the farm laws and talking about amendments which, they asserted, the farmers could not accept. During the meetings with the government, they alleged that farmers are only harassed and asked to provide suggestions for amendments.
The farmers from Punjab, who are protesting the three farm laws, have now embarked on a phase-wise tour to different parts of the country to create awareness about the dangers of the new laws.
Since November, the farmers from Punjab and Haryana are demanding repeal of the three farm laws, which were passed by Parliament last year.
The visiting farmers said they would tour the entire Northeast and then proceed to the South, adding that they would also be having a meeting at Guwahati.
