The Centre held an eighth round of talks with farmers on Friday and tried to eliminate the deadlock, as previous few meetings, ended without any conclusion. The talks were held on two key issues — the complete withdrawal of the three contentious agricultural legislation and giving legal status to the minimum support price guarantee. Holding their ground during the meeting, the farmers on the contentious farm laws told the government they would settle for nothing less than total scrapping of the farm laws. However, the Centre ruled out a complete withdrawal of legislations, asserting the laws have been welcomed by a large section of farmers in other states across the country. Next round of talks are scheduled to take place on January 15.

After the meeting, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said no decision could be made out of the talks. Government urged that if farmer unions give an option other than repealing, the government will consider it but no option could be presented, so the meeting was concluded. 

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Kisan Union spokesperson Rakesh Tikait asserted that farmers won’t go back until the farm laws are repealed.   

The government is still hopeful. If repealing was the only issue,a solution would’ve been reached by now, there are several other issues to be addressed, said Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar after meeting Home Minister Amit Shah.   

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The farmers from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and across the country have been protesting at the Delhi borders against the Centre’s new farm laws since November 26, 2020. Despite bitter cold and rains, the farmers are not ready to step back and have warned that they will hold a tractor rally on Republic day if their demands of scrapping of the legislations and MSP guarantee are not met. The farmers organised a tractor rally on the Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways on Thursday as a rehearsal programme for January 26.   

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