In an open appeal to protesting farmers, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar said that the bill to repeal the three farm laws will be tabled in the Parliament on the first day of the winter session, on November 29. He urged farmers to end their agitation and go home. "PM Narendra Modi has announced to constitute a committee to deliberate on the issues of crop diversification, zero-budget farming, and making MSP system more transparent and effective. This committee will have representatives from farmers' organisations," he said, reported news agency ANI.
Tomar also stated that the Centre has acquiesced to the farmer demands of decriminalisation of stubble burning, which is widely considered to be one of the reasons behind winter chokes in the National Capital Region (NCR).
On Friday, hundreds of farmers in tractors had started arriving at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border as Friday marked one year of the ongoing farmers' protest against the Central laws. Many of them brought along vegetables, sacks of flour and lentils, spices and cooking oil on their tractor-trollies, saying they have come prepared for a long haul.
Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), an influential farmers' union from western Uttar Pradesh, has been leading the charge at the Ghazipur border since November last year. The BKU is part of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a farmers' collective, which is spearheading the protest for withdrawal of three contentious farm laws and for legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) of crops.Â
"It has been a year of unmatched struggle mixed with happiness and sadness. We are fighting and winning. We will fight and win. MSP law is farmers' right," BKU national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait tweeted in Hindi.
