Finance Minister Meets Farmers For Pre-Budget Talks As Protest Continues At Shambhu

New Dehii: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman convened the second Pre-Budget Consultation with 11 farmers, representatives of farmer associations and agricultural economists even as the agitation continued at Haryana-Punjab Shambhu border for the second day on Saturday.

According to farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher, farmers will wait for talks with the government, otherwise, a ‘Jattha’ of 101 farmers under the banner of Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM, non-political) will march towards Delhi at noon on Sunday. They were forced to call a temporary halt after Haryana Police and paramilitary forces fired tear gas shells to disperse them at Shambhu on Friday.

Section 144 has been imposed in Ambala, prohibiting gatherings of five or more people.

Their demands include a legal guarantee for MSP, farm debt waiver, pension, no hike in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases (against farmers), “justice” for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and compensation to the families of farmers who died during the previous agitation in 2020-21.

Meanwhile in the national capital, Sitharaman is holding discussion to understand the sector and its financial demands. The meeting is being attended by Ajay Vir Jakhar, who hails from Maujgarh village in the state and chairs Bharat Krishak Samaj (Indian Farmers Forum), and Dharmendra Malik, spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union led by Tikait brothers, which was at the forefront of the year-long agitation against three agricultural laws, according to The Tribune.

On Friday, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan assured farmers, including those protesting in Punjab, that the Narendra Modi government will fix an MSP of more than 50% and will also purchase all farm produce.