After home minister Rajnath Singh met farmer’s leaders and discussed their demands, they have reached an agreement on a majority of the demands. It may be noted that farmers belonging to Bhartiya Kisan Union (BHU) started the protest ‘Kisan Kranti March’ on September 23 in Haridwar. The protest march reached Delhi-UP border on Tuesday. The farmers were protesting against low minimum support prices (MSP), high fuel rates. Their demands included loan-waiver, payment of pending sugarcane dues and more.
Out of the nine specific demands, the government has agreed upon seven. It has been decided that a law will be brought in to prevent the sale of crops below minimum selling price (MSP).The farmers were also protesting against NGT banning diesel vehicles older than 10 years as it has hit the farmer hard. The government has agreed to form a new committee to discuss revoking the NGT ban. The demand of complete loan waiver is still being discussed. Farmers were seeking loan waiver as they were unable to repay the loans due to crop failures, droughts, floods and low MSP. The government has also agreed to bring amend the Insurance Bill.
Farmers and government reached a consensus on demands related to pricing for sugarcane farmers. The centre has also agreed to reduce the GST on agricultural goods to 5 per cent. Crop insurance demand of the farmer has also been accepted by the government. Worth mentioning here is that home minister Rajnath Singh held a meeting with Union agriculture minister Radhan Mohan Singh and farmer’s leaders to discuss farmers’ issues. UP ministers Narayan Ji, Suresh Rana and MoS Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat will meet the farmers as well.