New Delhi: Announcing their plans for the upcoming two months, farmers, who have been protesting against the new farm laws at the Delhi borders, said they will march to the Parliament on foot in May, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha said on Wednesday.
“The Sanyukt Kisan Morcha met yesterday, and decided that the farmers will be undertaking a march to the Parliament. The date for the march is yet to be decided.
“It will be joined not just by farmers, but also by women, and unemployed individuals, and labourers who have been supporting the movement,” farmer leader Gurnaam Singh Chaduni said.
Addressing a press conference, he said that the march would be carried out in a “peaceful” manner, and special care would be taken that “what happened on January 26 is not repeated”.
The leaders also shared their plans of forming a committee to control protesters if there is police action in parliament march.
“We will form a committee to let the protestors know what to do in case there is police action during the march.
“It will also be made clear to them that SKM condemns all kinds of violence. So the protestors will know that if there is any damage of property by them, they will have to serve the penalty,” a farmer leader said.
Farmer leaders also announced their plans to block the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal expressway for 24 hours on April 10.
“We will be blocking the KMP expressway on April 10 for 24 hours, that is from 11 am on April 10 to 11 am on the next day.
“We will be doing this because the government has not been listening to us. It has been sleeping. This is to wake up the government,” another farmer leader said.
An event to honour the farmers who have lost their lives during the agitation will be organised on May 6.
“Soil from different parts of the country will be brought to these borders and a memorial will be created for all our brothers who have lost their lives while participating in this movement,” a farmer leader said.
Separate events will also be organised to commemorate Ambedkar Jayanti, and Labour Day.
Enacted in September, the three farm laws have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.
The protesting farmers, on the other hand, have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and do away with the “mandi” (wholesale market) system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.
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SC-appointed panel on farm laws submits report
New Delhi, Mar 31 (PTI) The Supreme Court-appointed committee to study the three new controversial agricultural laws has submitted its report to the apex court on March 19 in a sealed cover, one of its members said on Wednesday.
Farmers have been protesting seeking repeal of the three contentious farm laws on the borders of New Delhi for the last five months now. The Supreme Court had, on January 11, stayed the implementation of the three laws till further orders and appointed a four-member panel to resolve the impasse.
The committee was given two months to study the laws and consult all stakeholders.
“We submitted the report on March 19 in a sealed cover. Now, the court will decide the future course of action,” one of the members of the committee P K Mishra told PTI.
As per the committee’s official website, the panel held total 12 rounds of consultations with various stakeholders, including farmers groups, farmer producers organisations (FPOs) procurement agencies, professionals, academicians, private as well as state agriculture marketing boards.
The panel also held nine internal meetings before finalising the report.
Apart from Mishra, Shetkari Sanghatana President Anil Ghanwat and agri-economist and former Chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) Ashok Gulati are other members of the panel.
The fourth member Bhartiya Kisan Union President Bhupinder Singh Mann had, however, recused himself from the committee before the work began.
