Farmers to continue protests till they get formal response to pending demands from the centre: Samyukt Kisan Morcha

The farmers' protests will continue till a formal response from the government of India on different issues of farmers is obtained, announced an official statement from Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Saturday.

A meeting was held on Saturday during which the future course of the farmers' agitation based on pending demands of farmers was discussed.

As per SKM's statement, the pending demands of the farmer's movement are as follows: A legal entitlement for all farmers to get Minimum Support Price (MSP) on any of their produce, withdrawal of Electricity Amendments Bill 2020/2021, deletion of Section 15 in the law related to setting up of a Commission for Delhi Air Quality regulation pertaining to fines imposed on farmers for stubble burning, withdrawal of cases against protesting farmers in various states, rehabilitation for kin of the farmers who died during the agitation, land allotment for a memorial to be built in memory of deceased farmers, arrest and sacking of Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni, whose son Ashish was allegedly involved the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

After the meeting, it was announced that SKM has formed a five-member committee to hold talks on the aforementioned demands with the Centre, which will comprise farmer leaders Balbir Singh Rajewal, Shiv Kumar Kakka, Gurnam Singh Charuni, Yudhvir Singh and Ashok Dhawale.

"This 5-member committee will in turn also decide on state-level teams that might have to work along with some state governments on some of the issues above," added the statement by the coalition of farmer unions.

The next meeting of SKM has now been fixed for December 7.

Earlier in the day, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait had said that the talks between Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and farmers, which was held on Friday remained inconclusive.

On November 19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the Centre will bring necessary bills in the winter session of Parliament beginning later this month to repeal the farm laws.

The Prime Minister also said that the government will constitute a committee to work on a new framework for Minimum Support Price (MSP).

Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha passed the Farm Laws Repeal Bill on the first day of the winter session on November 29. President Ram Nath Kovind has also given his assent to the Bill that completes the process of repealing the three farm laws.

The SKM called off a planned tractor march to Parliament on November 29 and said that it would wait until December 4 for the Union government to formally respond to its demands, which it had stated in an open letter to the Prime Minister.

Farmers have been protesting against the farm laws on various borders of Delhi since November 26, 2020.

( With inputs from ANI )