Farmers demand MSP ordinance ahead of talks

New Delhi: Ahead of the upcoming talks, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher has called on the Centre to issue an ordinance providing a legal guarantee for the minimum support price (MSP).

“Entire country is looking towards PM Modi to gather up courage and take firm decision on MSP,” Pandher said, adding, “Ball is in the government's court.” The latest appeal came on the fifth day of a stand-off that began when a caravan of thousands of farmers in trucks, tractors and cars set off for the national capital from Punjab before they were stopped from crossing into Haryana. “If the government wants resolution of farmers’ protest, then it should bring an ordinance with an immediate effect that it will enact a law on MSP, then discussion can proceed further,” said Pandher.

Pandher’s KMSC and the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Sidhupur) led by Jagjit Singh Dallewal are the two organisations leading the farmers that have now halted at the Shambhu border between Haryana and Punjab. On Saturday, a powerful farm group in Haryana too took out a tractor rally across the state, backing the demand by their Punjab counterparts for the MSP to be legally guaranteed across more crops. Support has also grown from other farm outfits in recent days. The BKU (Ekta Ugrahan), another farmer group based in Punjab, said it will carry out protests across the city over the weekend, and the BKU unit in West UP’s led by Rakesh Tikait said farmers will stage dharnas in UP, Haryana, Punjab and Uttarakhand on Feb 21 to press their demands, including the one on MSP.

4th round of talks begins in Chandigarh

A panel of Union ministers began the fourth round of talks with farmer leaders here on Sunday evening over their demands, including a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for crops. Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Arjun Munda, Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and

Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai reached the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration in Sector 26 for the talks. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also joined the meeting. The Union ministers and farmer leaders had met earlier on February 8, 12 and 15 but the talks remained inconclusive.