#Rakesh Tikait statement on farm laws repeal

[doonitedin]

Compensation to farmers' families, withdrawal of cases among top agenda at SKM meet: Tikait

Compensation to farmers’ families, withdrawal of cases among top agenda at SKM meet: Tikait

Image Source : PTI Withdrawal of cases, compensation for those who died in farm protests on agenda: Tikait Highlights Samyukt Kisan Morcha is holding a meeting at the Singhu border on Sunday Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced the repealing of the three Central farm laws Even after the prime minister’s announcement, Tikait said the farmers’ agitation has not ended Compensation for…

[bbcbreakingnews]

Govt asks farm leaders to reconsider proposal for suspending three laws; Unions stick to repeal demand

NEW DELHI: Farmer unions on Friday told the government they want a complete repeal of three contentious farm laws even as the Centre asked them to reconsider its proposal for putting the Acts on hold for 12-18 months, as the two sides met for their 11th round of talks to resolve the nearly-two-month long deadlock. In the last round of meetings held on Wednesday, the government had offered to put on hold the three laws and set up a joint committee to find solutions. However, after internal consultations on Thursday, the farmer unions decided to reject the offer and stick to their two major demands — the repeal of the three laws and a legal guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP). “We told the government that we will not agree to anything other than the repeal of the laws. But the minister asked us to discuss separately again and rethink on the matter and convey the decision,” farmer leader Darshan Pal told PTI during a break after the first session. BKU leader Rakesh Tikait said: “We conveyed our position clearly to the government that we want a repeal of the laws and not a suspension. The minister (Narendra Singh Tomar) asked us to reconsider our decision.” Tikait said the farmer leaders are discussing internally on this issue. “After the lunch break, we will convey our decision,” he added. The eleventh round of talks between protesting farmer unions and three central ministers began at around 1 pm, but not much headway was visible in the first two hours of the meeting. Along with Union Agriculture Minister Tomar, Railways, Commerce and Food Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Parkash are also participating in the talks with representatives of 41 farmer unions at the Vigyan Bhawan here. In a full general body meeting on Thursday, Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the umbrella body of the protesting unions, rejected the government’s proposal. “A full repeal of three central farm Acts and enacting a legislation for remunerative MSP for all farmers were reiterated as the pending demands of the movement,” the Morcha said in a statement. Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, are protesting at various border points of Delhi for over a month now against the three laws. Farmer groups have alleged these laws will end the mandi and MSP procurement systems and leave the farmers at the mercy of big corporates, even as the government has rejected these apprehensions as misplaced. On January 11, the Supreme Court stayed the implementation of the three laws till further orders and appointed a four-member panel to resolve the impasse. Bhartiya Kisan Union president Bhupinder Singh Mann had recused himself from the committee appointed by the apex court. Shetkari Sanghatana (Maharashtra) president Anil Ghanwat and agriculture economists Pramod Kumar Joshi and Ashok Gulati, the other three members on the panel, started the consultation process with stakeholders on Thursday.

source https://bbcbreakingnews.com/2021/01/22/govt-asks-farm-leaders-to-reconsider-proposal-for-suspending-three-laws-unions-stick-to-repeal-demand/

[neethypaksham]

PM ‘lied’ on MSP: farmer unions

AIKSCC says he launched an open attack by linking them to the Opposition

Protesting farmer groups accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “attacking” them in his speech on Friday, adding that his claims on minimum support prices (MSP) were “lies”. With regard to the ongoing Supreme Court case, farm leaders have not yet made any firm decision on whether to implead themselves as proposed by the court.

“The Prime Minister has launched an open party attack on the farmers of India by claiming that they are linked to Opposition parties,” said a statement from the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), responding to Mr. Modi’s address to Madhya Pradesh farmers. “In place of addressing the issue of repeal of the three farm Acts which erode farmers’ hold on land and farming and establish the MNCs and big business to grow in agriculture, he has reduced himself to a party leader undermining his role as a responsible executive head of the country, expected to solve problems.”

The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Tikait) dismissed the Centre’s claims of helping farmers by increasing the MSPs. It pointed out that the MSPs of major crops had an average yearly increase of 8-12% in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) era, in comparison to only 1-5% under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). “These are Modiji’s lies about MSP,” said the group’s leader Rakesh Tikait, adding that most pulses were not being bought at MSP prices. Even with regards to paddy, a farmer in Bihar is still forced to sell his crop at half the rate of MSP because government procurement has not reached him, he said.

Mr. Tikait also termed the Centre’s claims of implementing the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations as a “lie”, pointing out that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s formula for calculating MSP does not follow the Commission, and has resulted in “suppressing the rights of farmers”.

The PM’s claim that the new laws would promote investment in farm storage infrastructure would only help corporates, said Mr. Tikait. “This means that Modi-ji is promoting agri business, not farmers. Privatisation is being promoted in farming. After the Navratna companies were privatised, Modi is now eyeing the privatisation of agriculture,” he said.

All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) general secretary Hannan Mollah questioned Mr. Modi’s claim that the farm reforms were not a sudden move but the result of two decades of consultation and planning.

“Without discussing with farmers, what is the use of saying we have been talking for 20 years in bureaucratic rooms? No farmers’ group was consulted before these laws were brought, no farmer has asked for these laws,” he said.

[bbcbreakingnews]

Tractor rally set to hit NCR traffic tomorrow

NEW DELHI: Farmers’ unions opposed to the new agri laws will intensify their agitation with tractor rallies at four border points of Delhi, including both eastern and western peripheral expressways, on Thursday. This was announced on Tuesday, with no sign of any forward movement since Monday’s inconclusive talks with the Centre. “These (rallies) will be a trailer for what lies ahead on January 26,” said Yogendra Yadav of Jaik Kisan Andolan at Singhu Border. As a result, traffic is set to be badly hit around the capital. The tractor rallies, planned earlier for Wednesday, was deferred by a day due to forecast of bad weather. The tractor march on Thursday on KMP-KGP expressway is set to hit traffic severely. With the Delhi-Jaipur highway already blocked for traffic, heavy congestion is being witnessed on alternative routes such as Pataudi Road and other internal roads. The travel distance between Delhi and Jaipur has shot up around 85-100 km as traffic is being diverted from Kotkasim and Kasola Chowk via Nangal Chaudhry. The KMP-KGP expressway has been largely unaffected so far. Farmers protesting at UP Gate too plan to take out a tractor rally to Palwal on Thursday. Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said although they are awaiting the outcome of the next round of talks scheduled on January 8, the protests will intensify in the next few days. “On January 7, farmers will take out a rally from UP Gate to Palwal. More than 500 tractors will be there,” said Dharmendra Malik, a BKU office bearer. Flanked by representatives from other states, who joined the farmer union leaders to project it as a pan-India movement, Yadav said the protests will spread across the country as their demands for repeal of the three farm laws and legal status for MSP remain unmet. “For two weeks from Wednesday, ‘Desh Jagran Abhiyan’ will be started and protests will be deepened throughout the country,” he said. The tractor march on the KMP bypass road will begin at 11 am on Thursday, with farmers from Punjab, Haryana, UP, Rajasthan and other states will join the march in large numbers with thousands of tractors. At least 10 tractors from each village of Haryana will be joining the march as per the plan. Meanwhile, despite the cold and rain, the hunger strike by farmers continued on all border points of Delhi. “The resolve is evidence that they will not go back home until their two key demands around repeal of the farm acts and legal entitlement around MSP for farmers are not secured,” said the unions’ umbrella body in a statement. It said, “On January 9, on the death anniversary of Chaudhary Chhoturam, programmes will be organized in his memory at Delhi borders and across the country. Farmers from across the country are joining the Delhi morcha in large numbers.” The ongoing protests at Masani in Dharuhera, Sangwari and Jaisinghpur Khera, on the Delhi-Jaipur highway have forced authorities to divert traffic at multiple locations along this stretch. Vehicles moving from Delhi and Gurgaon towards Dharuhera faced inconvenience as police stopped traffic at Kapriwas border by placing barricades on Monday late night as traffic kept piling up. This created confusion among commuters. Meanwhile, heavy vehicles moving from Bawal towards Gurgaon have been diverted from Jhajjar-Rohtak bypass road (NH-352), due to which the travel distance has increased.

source https://bbcbreakingnews.com/2021/01/06/tractor-rally-set-to-hit-ncr-traffic-tomorrow/

[bbcbreakingnews]

If government wants to talks to farmers it should convey that formally: BKU leader Rakesh Tikait

NEW DELHI: If the government wants to talk to farmer leaders that should be formally conveyed like in previous occasions, said Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Friday, asserting that anything less than scrapping of the new agri laws won’t be accepted. The government on Thursday asked farmer groups to consider its proposals for amending the Acts to address their concerns and said it was open to discussing its offer further whenever the unions want. “They (government) should first tell us when and where they want to meet us as they did for previous formal talks. If they invite us for talks, we will discuss that with our coordination committee and then take a decision,” Tikait told PTI. The BKU leader said there was no question of returning home until the government repeals the three laws. Asked whether the government has sent any invite for further discussion, he said the farmer unions have not received anything as such. “One thing is very clear that farmers will not accept anything less than scrapping of new agriculture laws,” he said. Farmers leaders on Thursday announced they would block railway tracks across the country if their demands were not met by the government and would announce a date for that soon. However, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has expressed hope there would be a resolution soon. “The government is keen and ready for further discussions with protesting farmers… To clear their apprehensions, we have sent our proposal to farmer unions. “I want to urge them to fix a date for discussion as early as possible. If they have any issue, the government is ready for discussion,” he had said during a address to reporters along with Food, Railways and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal. The agriculture minister had also said it was not proper on the part of the farmer unions to announce the next stage of agitation when talks were continuing, and urged them to return to the discussion table. The All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) condemned Tomar for his comments and claimed it was the government which remains adamant on not repealing the laws. In a statement, it remarked that the farmers’ organisations were ready for talks and have responded for every previous discussion proposed by the government. Another farmer organisation – the All India Kisan Sabha – said, “AIKS rebuffs the allegation of Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar that the kisan organisations were wrong in intensifying struggle while discussion was going on.” It stated that the farmers’ struggle would be intensified in the coming days until their demands were met. At least five rounds of formal talks have taken place between the Centre and representatives of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, protesting on various borders of the national capital for about two weeks, but the deadlock has continued with the unions sticking to their main demand for the repeal of the three contentious laws. The sixth round of talks between the government and farm union leaders, which was scheduled for Wednesday morning, was cancelled.

source https://bbcbreakingnews.com/2020/12/11/if-government-wants-to-talks-to-farmers-it-should-convey-that-formally-bku-leader-rakesh-tikait/