oppn parties Farm Talks Are Unlikely To Be Cordial Today

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  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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Farm Talks Are Unlikely To Be Cordial Today

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-01-20 05:35:28

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

The Centre is going to meet the representatives of the farmer's unions for the 10th round of talks to resolve the dispute over the new farm laws today. Hopes were raised in the last round of talks as both sides had agreed to negotiate directly (and not through the Supreme Court appointed committee) to resolve the issue and some union representatives had expressed the hope that a resolution would emerge soon.

But since then, the Centre has hardened its stand and has now said that the farmers will have to come up with "alternatives" as it is not going to repeal the laws. It has also indicated that keeping the repeal of the laws at the top of the agenda is not conducive to holding fair negotiations. The unions are agitated that the NIA is issuing summons to union leaders, transporters who are helping in the logistics of the protest movement and others. They feel that the Centre is trying to break the backbone of the movement through such moves. Another prickly point is going to be the tractor rally the farmer's are going to take out on Republic Day. With the Supreme Court having put the onus on the Delhi Police on the question of allowing or disallowing the rally, the unions are likely to press the Centre to allow the same. Hence, today's talks are not likely to be held cordially.

In the meantime, the Supreme Court has not budged from its stand and has refused to change the committee members (all of whom were not acceptable to the unions) even after one of them, Bhupinder Singh Mann of BKU, decided to opt out of the committee. In fact, CJI S A Bobde has defended the right of the court to appoint members without consulting anybody. This has further angered the unions and they are likely to stick to their original decision of not appearing before the committee. The committee has, in the meanwhile, started a portal where individual farmers can upload their responses to the three farm laws.

One feels that too many things are happening all at once and the situation is getting out of hand. As the farmers are not inclined to give up their demand of repealing the laws, the government has to find a way around it. It can draft a new set of bills after a final discussion with the unions, get their approval and issue an ordinance to make them law while simultaneously withdrawing the earlier ones. That would be the best resolution given that things are not moving in the right direction for such a long time.