Farmers reject government's proposal to stay farm laws for 18 months

NEW DELHI: Protesting farmer unions on Thursday rejected the government's proposal to suspend the three agriculture laws for 18 months and insisted that they won't settle for anything but the repeal of the legislations.
The farmers also rejected another proposal to set up a joint committee to resolve the deadlock over the new laws.
"In a full general body meeting of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha today, the proposal put forth by the government yesterday, was rejected. A full repeal of three central farm acts and enacting a legislation for remunerative MSP for all farmers were reiterated as the pending demands of the movement," Samkyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of protesting unions, said in a statement.
The statement comes a day ahead of the eleventh round of talks between the farmers and the Centre.
Multiple farmer organizations, who have been agitating against the farm laws, conducted marathon meetings on Thursday to discuss Centre's proposal to suspend the three contentious laws for 1 to 1.5 years and form a joint committee to find an amicable solution.
During the internal meeting, which lasted for over four hours, the farmers also asserted that they "will not go back to their homes until their demand to repeal the three contentious farm laws is accepted by the government".
The Centre's proposal had come on Wednesday after tenth round of talks between farmers' representatives and the government.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court-appointed panel on the new agri laws started its consultation process on Thursday and interacted with 10 farmer organisations from eight states, including Uttar Pradesh.
The apex court had on January 11 stayed the implementation of the three laws, against which farmers are protesting at Delhi borders for nearly two months now, till further orders and appointed a four-member panel to resolve the impasse.
Earlier in the day, the meeting between protesting unions and police over the January 26 tractor rally remained inconclusive as the farmers stuck to their demand to take it out on Delhi's busy Outer Ring Road.
Enacted in September last year, the three laws have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.
However, the protesting farmers have expressed their apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of MSP and do away with the "mandi" (wholesale market) system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.
(With inputs from agencies)