oppn parties Farm Talks: Centre Climbs Down, Unions Must Respond Positively

News Snippets

  • SP drops two candidates owing allegiance to Azam Khan from Rampur and Moradabad
  • In Assam, a controversy erupted after a picture of UPPL leader Benjamin Basumatary, lying on a stack of Rs 500 notes circulated on social media. UPPL is an ally of the BJP
  • AAP's Jalandhar-West MP Sushil Kumar Rinku joins the BJP. He was the only AAP Lok Sabha MP
  • Supreme Court dismisses Centre's plea to review its 2023 verdict in the PMLA case
  • Close save for passengers as they remain unhurt after the wings of two planes graze at Kolkata airport. Pilots derostered and inquiry ordered by DGCA
  • Bengal BJP leader Dilip Ghosh gets notice from the EC as well as the BJP for making ugly remarks about Mamata Banerjee's parentage
  • Sadanand Vasanth Date, who faught terrorists in the 26/11 attack and was awarded the Preisent's Police medal, has been appointed the head of the NIA
  • Centre will borrow Rs 7.5L cr in the first six months of FY25, nearly 50% of the target for the full year
  • 25 stocks, including SBI, will see same day trade settlements from today in the world's fastest settlement mode in both BSE and NSE
  • Stocks recover smartly on Wednesday: Sensex rises 526 points to 72996 and Nifty 118 points to 22123
  • Tennis: Rohan Bopanna-Matthew Ebden reached the semifinals of the Miami Open
  • IPL: records tumble as SRH beat MI in a high-scoring match. SRH score 277/3 with 18 sixes and Mumbai score 246 with 20 sixes to fall short by 31 runs. Atotal of 38 sixes, highest in an IPL match were hit and both teams combined to score 523 runs, the highest aggregate in an IPL match
  • Amul will launch fresh milk in the US
  • IPL: RCB beat Punjab by 4 wickets as Kohli and Karthik shine with the bat
  • India strongly objected to German foreign office remarks over the arrest of delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, called it "biased assumptions"
Delhi Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena says government cannot be run from jail, hints at President's Rule in the capital ////// In a dangerous incident, the wings of two planes grazed while taxiing on the runway at Kolkata airport, all passengers were safe but DGCA ordered an inquiry and the pilots were derostered
oppn parties
Farm Talks: Centre Climbs Down, Unions Must Respond Positively

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-01-20 15:29:45

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

In the 10th round of talks with the farmer's unions, the Centre today proposed to keep the new farm laws in abeyance for 18 months. It also proposed to form a joint committee comprising representatives from the government and the unions to find a way through which reforms can be introduced in the sector without harming the interests of the farmers. It requested the unions to suspend their agitation till the time the joint committee comes up with a solution.

The unions did not immediately agree to the proposal and said that they will go back and hold internal consultations. Although they said that prima facie they still demanded repeal of the laws, they will still hold consultations with their constituents and come back with a response on the government proposal in the next meeting on January 22.

One thinks that given the way the talks were not heading anywhere, this is the best the government can do. The reforms are necessary and the objections of the farmers are also valid. To find a middle ground now when attitudes have hardened on both sides is almost impossible. Hence, it is better to leave it to a joint committee that will discuss what the government wants to do and how it could do it in the best way possible without harming the interests of the farmers.

It needs to be emphasized that the farmer's have, till date and despite several requests from the government, not come out with any concrete proposals against the clauses in the bills. Neither have they formed informal groups of experts among themselves to discuss the laws. From day one, they have insisted on a complete repeal of the laws. Now if they refuse the latest government proposals, it would definitely mean that they are not only against the bills but totally against reforms.

Since the government has softened its attitude and has agreed to suspend the laws for 18 months, the unions too should climb down. They should nominate their representatives to the joint committee to be formed and help in finding a middle ground. They have nothing to fear since after this proposal, the government will not enact any laws without their approval. This is what they wanted in the first place and now that the government given them the opportunity, they must grab it.