New Delhi, Feb 19 (EFE).- The government of India offered a plan for minimum support prices (MSP) for certain agricultural products, partly meeting the demands of protesting farmers’ groups and preventing them from resuming their march to New Delhi on Monday.
“The government has given us a proposal, which guarantees MSP on pulses, maize and cotton” for the next five years, Jagjit Singh Dallewal, one of the leaders of the negotiating committee representing the farmers, told reporters.
The farmers’ group asked for at least two days to discuss the proposal with the rest of the unions, while waiting for the Indian government to analyze the other demands put forward by them during the meeting Sunday with the government.
In case their demands are not met, the peasants will resume Wednesday their march towards the Indian capital.
“Both us and the government will try to find a resolution through talks. If due to some reason it doesn’t happen, then we will request the government to let us go to Delhi peacefully,”Sarvan Singh Pandher, one of the farmer leaders, told the media
Last week, thousands of farmers on hundreds of tractors began a massive march towards New Delhi from the neighboring states of Haryana and Punjab, the latter being known as the ‘breadbasket of India,’ to press home their demands.
The authorities stopped the protests in both states on the first day, while protesters clashed with police in Haryana.
Police used barriers and fired tear gas to disperse the protesters in the state.
Backed by several associations, the farmers demanded, among other things, a guarantee of MSP on certain crops by law to protect their prices in the face of market fluctuations.
The implementation of minimum prices was one of the main demands during protests between 2020 and 2021, when thousands of farmers camped for almost 15 months outside Delhi, opposing an agrarian reform initiated by the Indian government.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to bow to pressure and repeal a newly enacted law, which farmers said gave too much power to big companies by deregulating the market.
Two years later, farmers’ associations say the government has not met all their demands. EFE
mvg/sc
