Farmer agitation called off after Centre agrees to demands

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the coalition of 40 plus farmers’ groups, has called off their agitation against the central government, after they received a formal letter from the Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, agreeing to several of their pending demands. All the protest centres on the borders of Delhi, and various other locations will be vacated, SKM has said in a statement.

“Considering that the nation is mourning the demise of CDS Mr Bipin Rawat and his associates, SKM decides to postpone all celebrations with regard to the victory of farmers, and celebratory rallies will be taken out the day after tomorrow (11th December) now, when farmers leave the morcha sites together in victory rallies”, the statement reads.

The groups will hold their next meeting on January 15th in Delhi, to ensure that the Government of India is keeping to its commitments made to the protesting farmers, and to chart out the future course of action, SKM leaders have said.

The 378 day-long protest was one of the biggest such movements seen in recent times. The farmer groups decided to call off their strike after the government agreed to most of their demands. On November 19th, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the decision to repeal three farm laws that were opposed by the protestors. The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 were repealed soon after the current session of the Parliament began in the last week of November.

Later, the government sent a five-point proposal, officially conveyed by the Agriculture Ministry today, which said that the government was willing to consider most of their demands—including withdrawal of cases filed against agitators in various states—once the protest ends. A committee to propose a mechanism to guarantee minimum support price (MSP) for agricultural produce is another promise. SKM had also demanded compensation to the kin of the 700 plus persons who died during the agitation in the last year.