Farmers would end their current protest, according to the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), after carefully contemplating the new draught plan issued by the Union government. “Today’s meeting of Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) will review the new draught plan received from the government. Farmers have begun dismantling tents from the protest site at Singhu, near the Delhi-Haryana border, ahead of the announcement. “We are ready to return home,” a farmer remarked, “but the ultimate decision will be made by Samyukt Kisan Morcha.” The SKM had previously said that a consensus had been achieved on the Centre’s amended draught proposal on their outstanding demands.
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Even as its leaders wanted an official notification on government letterhead, the supreme organisation of farmers said it will convene on Thursday to deliberate the movement’s future direction. According to sources in the farmers’ umbrella organisation, the farmers’ protest, which began on November 26 last year at the three Delhi border sites of Singhu, Ghazipur, and Tikri, will be terminated shortly once unions receive an official letter from the government on the agreed-upon updated draught plan. Gurnam Singh Chaduni, a farmer leader and member of the SKM core committee, claimed that the previous draught from the federal government on outstanding requests was not acceptable to them, and that a new proposal was received from the Centre on Wednesday. Cases filed against farmers in Delhi would be dismissed as well.
Chaduni indicated during a news conference that no decision on halting the agitation has been made yet, and that the decision would be made after the meeting on Thursday. The SKM had constituted a five-member panel to have talks with the Centre about farmers’ unmet demands, such as a legal guarantee on MSP, the removal of lawsuits against farmers filed during the movement, and compensation for the kin of farmers who died during the agitation. The SKM had asked clarity on key issues in the government’s plan on Tuesday, including the provision that “false” lawsuits against farmers be dropped. According to SKM sources, the new plan given by the Centre further emphasised that state purchase of MSP crops will not be curtailed.
According to farmer activists, the Centre has told them that Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have agreed to compensate relatives of farmers who died during the protest in the proposal. According to SKM sources, the Electricity Amendment Bill will not be introduced in Parliament until the government and SKM examine elements that affect farmers. The Centre told farmers that stubble burning had already been decriminalised. The participants at the SKM meeting on Wednesday observed a two-minute silence to remember Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat and those who died in a chopper crash in Coonoor. The day began with an emergency meeting of the SKM’s five-member empowered committee to discuss current farmer requests and a new draught proposal from the Centre handed to the farmers’ group, urging them to call off the demonstration.
Read also: What Farmers Hope to Achieve with Kisan Mahapanchayat
Since November 26 last year, farmers from Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh have been protesting outside the national capital’s boundaries, demanding that the three agricultural laws be repealed. The demonstrators demanded that the government meet their other requests, which included a formal guarantee on MSP and the dropping of lawsuits against farmers, but the standoff remained.
