The standoff between the farmers groups protesting at the various borders of Delhi and the Centre has been going on for more than two weeks and a series of talks have failed between the two. The farmers have been very adamant about their demand for the total rolling back of the farm laws in absolute terms and are not showing any interest in settling for a compromise or an amendment to the recently passed agricultural laws.
Looking at the continuing standoff and the lack of a breakthrough, the Supreme Court of India has come up with a new proposal to settle the matter and arrive at a long-awaited solution to the ongoing tussle between the farmers and the government.
The Supreme Court proposed the formation of a committee comprising the representatives of the farmers and the government and noted that the government’s attempts at negotiating with the farmers were bound to fail.
The farmers groups have been camping at the various borders of Delhi and have come from neighbouring states like Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to stage a protest against the recently passed agricultural laws which they blame for being anti-farmer and pro-corporate.
The protesting farmers have now gone ahead and blocked the Chilla border between Delhi and Noida and the police meanwhile has deployed an even greater number of security personnel and made arrangements to deal and tackle the crowd composed of the angered and agitated farmers.
The farmers protest entered the 21st day on Wednesday and the farmers continue to remain absolutely firm on their demand for a complete repealing of the three agricultural laws and are not willing to accept any compromise.
The farmers have been protesting at almost all the entry points of Delhi and have been braving the chilly winters and an indifferent state machinery to stage their protest against the agricultural bills.
The farmers fear that once implemented, the three agricultural bills will leave them to the mercy or the market and it will make it impossible for them to get adequate payment for their produce as it will lead to the complete dismissal of the MSP and the Mandi System(whereby the government ensured farmers a minimum support price for their produce, guarding them against extreme fluctuations in market rates). But with the passage of the new agricultural laws, the farmers fear that they would be subjected to corporate monopoly and will lose their dignities under the oppressive modality that will be unleashed as a result. Some of the fears of the farmers include the deregulation of crop prices, denial of fair remuneration for produce and exposing them to the unprecedented mercy of the corporates.
