Farmers reject Centre's proposal to put agri laws on hold for 18 months

New Delhi: Farmer unions protesting against the three contentious agricultural laws once again demanded a complete rollback as they rejected the Centre's new proposal of putting the legislation on hold for 18 months.

"In a full general body meeting of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha today (Thursday), the proposal put forth by the government yesterday (Wednesday) 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 government, during their tenth round of negotiation with the agitating farmer leaders on Wednesday, proposed to suspend the three farm laws for 1-1.5 years and set up a joint committee to find an amicable solution in the interest of the farming community.

The two sides had also decided to meet again on Friday after the union leaders told the three Central government ministers that they will hold their own internal consultations on Thursday to decide on the Centre's new proposal.

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 SKM pays homage to the 143 farmers who have been martyred in this movement so far. These companions are separated from us while fighting this mass movement. Their sacrifice will not go in vain and we will not go back without the repealing of these farm laws," the statement said.

However, Jagjit Singh Dalewal of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Sindhupur), one of the 41 union leaders participating in the negotiations with the government, said a final decision is yet to be taken on the government's proposal and various union leaders were still discussing the matter.

While several other farmer leaders said consultations are over and a final decision has been taken to reject the government's proposal, indicating that the deadlock over the contentious farm laws may continue.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court-appointed panel on the new agri laws on Thursday started its consultation process and interacted with 10 farmer organisations from eight states, including Uttar Pradesh.