Centre to hold fresh round of talks with protesting farmers in Chandigarh today

 New Delhi, Feb 22 (IANS) After a “positive meeting” last week, the Centre is set to hold a fresh round of talks with the protesting farmers in Chandigarh on Saturday evening, with an intent to discuss several of their demands, including a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) on crops. Farmers earlier sought for the next meeting to be held in Delhi, however, the Centre scheduled it in Chandigarh’s Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Public Administration. A letter for the meeting was sent to farmer leaders Jagjit Singh Dallewal and Sarwan Singh Pandher by Purna Chandra Kishan, joint secretary, the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. The letter, dated February 19, said, “This is in continuation of the previous meeting with the leaders of SKM (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) which was held on February 14 in Chandigarh. “In this sequence, a meeting with the Ministers of the Government of India and the Punjab government regarding the demands of farmers’ unions has been organised on February 22 at Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Public Administration in Chandigarh. You are cordially invited to the meeting..,” the letter added. The central government and the protesting farmers have held several rounds of talks over the latter’s demand for a legal MSP guarantee on crops, debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, withdrawal of police cases and ‘justice’ for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence. Before the meeting held on February 14, four rounds of talks were held between Union Ministers and the farmers in February 2024. But, these meetings remained inconclusive. On February 14, a central team led by Union Minister Pralhad Joshi met with farmers’ representatives in Chandigarh, with both sides saying that the talks were held in a cordial atmosphere. Farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal had described it as a “positive meeting”. He also informed that Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and two other Ministers would also be present at the next meeting on February 22. However, Dallewal, who has been fasting unto death, made it clear to the authorities that the farmers will continue their protest until there is a law made for MSP. Key farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher told reporters that at the February 14 meeting, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said that the Narendra Modi-led government has increased MSP by 58 per cent since 2014. “However, we told them that the inflation under their government has increased by 59 per cent… We told them that the government should make a law for MSP. He (Joshi) told us that the government wants to keep holding talks with us,” Pandher added. The meeting last week had come after a year-long protest by farmers, centred around their MSP demand, wherein many chaotic events took place at the Shambhu, Khanauri and other Delhi-connected border points. –IANS khz/