Delhi Chalo March: Centre Agrees To 10 Of The 13 Demands of Agitating Farmers: Sources

Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal and Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher, among others, were part of the meeting.

Written by: India.com News Desk Edited by: Victor Dasgupta

Published: February 13, 2024, 4:32 PM IST

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New Delhi: The Modi government is learnt to have agreed to 10 of the 13 demands made by the agitating farmers. On Monday, a team of Union ministers held talks here with farmer leaders in a bid to dissuade them from their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march, and the Centre is learnt to have agreed to withdraw the cases against the farmers registered during the 2020-21 agitation.

The Union ministers are also believed to have agreed to give compensation to any left out families of farmers who died during the previous agitation. The sources further said the Central ministers were also discussing various other demands of the farmers during the meeting.

One of the farmer leaders, who participated in the meeting, told reporters that their main demands included legal guarantee to the MSP and debt waiver.

The ministers — Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal and Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda — held the second round of talks with the farmer leaders at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration in Sector 26.

Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal and Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher, among others, were part of the meeting.

Here’s a list of their demands:

• MSP: Enactment of a law guaranteeing MSP for crops all crops. When they agreed to withdraw their agitation against the now-repealed farm laws in 2021, the farmers set MSP enactment as a condition.
• Debt waiver: Implementation of Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations to provide debt waivers.
• Land Acquisition: Compensation for land acquired by various authorities for developmental projects, and reservation of 10 per cent of residential plots on developed lands for their families.
• World Trade Organisation (WTO): Withdrawal from WTO and imposition of ban on all Free Trade Agreements (FTA).
• Lakhimpur Kheri massacre: Punishment of perpetrators of the massacre and delivering justice to farmers.
• Pension: Allocation of pension to farmers and farm labourers.
• Electricity Amendment Bill 2020: Scrapping the bill because farmers fear the growing privatisation of electricity and don’t trust the state governments to pay subsidies on time.
• Compensation for life loss during 2020-2021 agitation: Monetary compensation to families of farmers who died during the 2020-2021 agitation. The demand also includes employment for one family member.
• MGNREGA: 200 days of employment per year with a daily wage of Rs 700.
• National Commission for Spices: Formation of the commission for different spices.
• Protection of rights of indigenous people: Protection of land, forests and water sources belonging to tribal communities.
• Seed quality: Improving seed quality by penalising companies which produce fake seeds, pesticides and fertilisers.