July 17, 2026

Farm Talks Are Unlikely To Be Cordial Today

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

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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

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The Centre is going to meet the representatives of the farmer's unions for the 10^th 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.