Four-point agenda put forward by farmer unions for December 29 meet with Centre

Farmer unions protesting against the agricultural reform laws on December 26 accepted Centre's offer to resume talks and end the deadlock. The decision was taken during a meeting of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 40 farmer unions protesting at various border points of Delhi.

However, in their letter to the Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Vivek Aggarwal, the farmer unions also listed four points which will serve as their agenda for the meeting on December 29.

> Modalities to be adopted for the repeal of the three Central farm laws.

> Mechanisms to be adopted to make remunerative Minimum Support Price (MSP) recommended by the National Farmers' Commission into a legally guaranteed right for farmers and agricultural commodities.

> 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.

> Changes in the draft Electricity Amendment Bill 2020 to protect the interests of farmers should also be part of the agenda for the next round of dialogue.

On December 24, the central government had written an open letter to the agitating farmers, asking them to choose a convenient date and time for the next round of talks to end the ongoing protests.

Thousands of farmers, especially from Punjab and Haryana, are staging a sit-in protest along Delhi borders. The protest started on November 26. The farmers are demanding a complete rollback of the new farm reform laws and a guarantee on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system being retained.

Multiple rounds of talks between the Centre and the farmers' union leaders have ended in a stalemate. Protesting farmers fear that the new laws will dismantle the MSP system and corporatise farming. The Centre has maintained that the agricultural reform laws will benefit farmers.