The Indian Panorama

Tag: Bhartiya Kisan Union

  • Bad Weather, Farmers, Rallyists Play Foul with PM Modi

    Bad Weather, Farmers, Rallyists Play Foul with PM Modi

    • Ferozepur visit cancelled because of ‘security lapse’, says Home Ministry

    NEW DELHI /NEW YORK (TIP): Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposed event at Ferozepur in Punjab on Wednesday, January 5, had to be cancelled owing to a “security lapse”, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has said. The Prime Minister was scheduled to lay the foundation stones for several projects.

    According to a Ministry of Home statement, Prime Minister Modi landed at Bathinda in the morning from where he was to go to the National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopter. “Due to rain and poor visibility, PM waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear out. When the weather didn’t improve, it was decided that he would go by road, which would take more than two hours. He then proceeded to travel by road after confirmation of necessary security arrangements by the Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab,” the statement said, adding, “Around 30 km away from National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala, when the PM’s convoy reached a flyover, it was found that the road was blocked by some protesters. The PM was stuck on the flyover for 15-20 minutes. This was a major lapse in the security of PM.”

    The statement noted that the Prime Minister’s schedule and travel plan were communicated well in advance to the State government. “As per procedure, they have to make necessary arrangements for logistics, security as well as keep a contingency plan ready. Also, in view of the contingency plan, Punjab Government has to deploy additional security to secure any movement by road, which was clearly not deployed. After this security lapse, it was decided to head back to Bathinda airport,” it stated.

    Punjab Chief Minister Channi, on the hand, said there was no security lapse on the part of the Punjab administration, and that Special Protection Group which is responsible for Prime Minister’s security took sudden decision to go by road, without the advance information to Punjab State authorities responsible for security of VIPs.

    Farmers have been opposing Modi’s visit to Ferozepur. Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), one of the largest farmer outfits in Punjab, was at the forefront of the protest against his visit and its members were seen demonstrating and blocking roads at several places across the State.

    Reports came in that huge arrangements were made for Prime Minister’s rally where a gathering of 100,000 was expected, but weather played foul and people just could not make it to the venue, leaving chairs and open spaces around unoccupied, and that was one of the reasons for Prime Minister to get back, in stead of waiting  for the police to clear the roads of protesting farmers and go ahead to address the rally.

    Punjab government has since submitted the report to Home Ministry of India. Meanwhile, many BJP leaders have demanded action against the erring Punjab administration officials, and some have gone further and demanded imposition of President’s rule in Punjab, alleging that the present Channi government is not able to maintain law and order, and that fair elections cannot be held with his government in power. The days to come are likely to witness interesting political jugglery, given the fact that Punjab is in no mood to welcome BJP.

    (With inputs from PTI)

  • Farm Laws: No headway in 11thRound of Talks between Government and Farmers

    Farm Laws: No headway in 11thRound of Talks between Government and Farmers

    NEW DELHI (TIP): Farmer unions on Friday, January 22, told the government that they wanted a complete repeal of three contentious farm laws even as the Centre asked them to reconsider its proposal for putting the Acts on hold for 12-18 months, as the two sides met for their 11th round of talks to resolve the nearly-two-month-long deadlock.

    The 11th round of farmer-government meeting lasted barely for 30 minutes. Broadly, the government has made it clear that the three controversial laws will not be repealed, and that the government has made its best offer.The Union Government has also urged the farmer leaders to consider building consensus around the proposal.

    Ending the meeting, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told unions that “the government is grateful for their cooperation”. “There is nothing wrong in the three laws. We gave the proposal, but you could not arrive at any decision. If you arrive at any conclusion please let us know, we will discuss again,” Tomar said.

    Sources say Union Ministers have told farmer leaders that they had given the “best proposal” and that they should try to build consensus around it. Meanwhile, farmer leaders said they were firm on their stated stance and have already decided that farmers would not settle for anything less than the repeal of the three laws. “We will now prepare for the January 26 parade,” they said, adding: “The government could not build a consensus and was wrong of them to accuse us of going to the media,” they said.While the morning session lasted for barely 20 minutes, the post lunch was also finished in 10 minutes after Tomar’s brief statement.The government has not set a date for the next meeting and has told the union leaders to think on its proposal. Notably, a section among Punjab unions were in the favor of accepting the government’s offer. They included some “small unions from Doaba” and similar organizations.Unions have claimed “threats” to union leaders namely Darshan Pal and Rakesh Tikait.

    In the last round of meetings held on Wednesday, the government had offered to put on hold the three laws and set up a joint committee to find solutions. However, after internal consultations on Thursday, the farmer unions decided to reject the offer and stick to their two major demands -the repeal of the three laws and a legal guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP). “We told the government that we would not agree to anything other than the repeal of the laws. But the minister asked us to discuss separately again and rethink on the matter and convey the decision,” farmer leader Darshan Pal told PTI during a break after the first session.

    BKU leader Rakesh Tikait said: “We conveyed our position clearly to the government that we want a repeal of the laws and not a suspension. The minister (Narendra Singh Tomar) asked us to reconsider our decision.”

    The eleventh round of talks between protesting farmer unions and three central ministers began at around 1 pm, but not much headway was visible in the first few hours of the meeting.

    Some leaders had apprehensions that the movement would lose its momentum once the farmers went away from Delhi borders.

    Harpal Singh, president of Bhartiya Kisan Union – Asli Arajnaitik, said: “Even if we accept the government’s offer, our fellow brothers sitting at Delhi borders will not accept anything other than a repeal of the laws. They will not spare us. What achievement will we show to them?”

    He also questioned the government’s credibility, alleging it was difficult to believe that they would keep their word on putting the laws on hold for 18 months.

    “We will die here but we will not return without getting the laws repealed,” Singh said. Along with Union Agriculture Minister Tomar, Railways, Commerce and Food Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Parkash are also participating in the talks with representatives of 41 farmer unions at the Vigyan Bhawan here. In a full general body meeting on Thursday, SamyuktKisanMorcha, the umbrella body of the protesting unions, rejected the government’s proposal.

    “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,” the Morcha said in a statement.

    Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, are protesting at various border points of Delhi for over a month now against the three laws.

    Farmer groups have alleged these laws will end the mandi and MSP procurement systems and leave the farmers at the mercy of big corporates, even as the government has rejected these apprehensions as misplaced.

    On January 11, the Supreme Court stayed the implementation of the three laws till further orders and appointed a four-member panel to resolve the impasse.

    Bhartiya Kisan Union president Bhupinder Singh Mann had recused himself from the committee appointed by the apex court.

    ShetkariSanghatana (Maharashtra) President Anil Ghanwat and agriculture economists Pramod Kumar Joshi and Ashok Gulati, the other three members on the panel, started the consultation process with stakeholders on Thursday, January 21.

    (With inputs from PTI and TNS)

  • Centre-farmers talks : Ahead of 9th round, Mann recuses himself from SC-appointed committee

    Centre-farmers talks : Ahead of 9th round, Mann recuses himself from SC-appointed committee

    NEW DELHI (TIP): Ahead of the ninth round of Centre-farmer talks on Friday, January 15, there have been some major developments on the ongoing agitation. Amid growing criticism, including from his own union, BKU’s Bhupinder Singh Mann (one of the four experts nominated by the Supreme Court for negotiations with farmers protesting against the three farm laws) , on January 14,  recused himself from the committee.

    Meanwhile, amid the growing social media buzz on unions “tractor parade” on the Republic Day, farmers’ leader Balbir Singh Rajewal said the January-26 plan will be revealed after the meeting with the Union ministers. He also urged everyone to maintain peace and harmony and not pay heed to “false and unfounded inflammatory propaganda and rumor mongering” on the tractor march to “malign and scuttle the movement”.

    Even as Rajewal said unions will finalize the contours of January 26 tractor march after their meeting with Central ministers on Friday, BKU leader from Uttar Pradesh Rakesh Tikait announced the program for the day saying that farmers will hold simultaneous parade from Red Fort to India Gate on the Republic Day.

    “The Republic Day Parade has been cut short, it will now be from Rashtrapati Bhawan to India Gate, I am told. We will march from Red Fort to India Gate and meet it there. It will be a historic event,” Tikait said in what is being seen as breaking ranks in the agitation.

    Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar expressed hope of positive discussions on January 15.

    Clearing the confusion over the fate of tomorrow’s meeting (the only outcome of the January-8 talks) after the SC ruling on Tuesday and Mann recusing from the court-appointed panel today, Tomar said the talks will be held as scheduled. While they have already specified that they will not appear before the court-appointed panel, farmer unions said they were ready to attend the scheduled talks with the government.

    In his statement, Mann said he was thankful to the Supreme Court for nominating him to the committee to start a dialogue with unions on the laws. However, as a farmer leader and union leader, “in view of the prevailing sentiments and apprehensions amongst the farm unions and public in general, I am ready to sacrifice any position offered or given to me so as to not compromise the interests of Punjab and farmers in the country, I am recusing myself from the committee and I will always stand with my farmers and Punjab,” Mann said after the union he headed also distanced itself from him.

    After being selected by the SC, he had urged everyone to put forward their views before the panel.

    Union leaders claimed others on the panel will “also resign soon”.

    Rajewal said efforts were being made to malign the agitation through ‘dushprachar’ (false propaganda). “The whole world is watching. This is not just a farmers’ movement. It has become a mass movement across the country. A movement is successful only when it is completely peaceful, if there is violence it collapses.

    “Misconceptions/false inflammatory propaganda are being spread about the 26 January movement. Some people are saying that the national flag should be hoisted at the Red Fort, some are saying the Parliament will be stormed,” he said, accusing “anti-farmer forces and government agencies” of trying to malign and scuttle the peaceful agitation of farmers and common people. Urging everyone to maintain peace and calm, he told the farmers that the tractor march will be “from” Delhi borders. The exact outline of the programme for January 26 will be given after tomorrow’s meeting.

                    (With inputs from TNS)

    Farmers to attend ninth round of talks with government without ‘much hope’

    New Delhi (TIP): Protesting farmer leaders on January 14 said they will attend the ninth round of talks with the government amid indication that it may be the last such meeting with the Centre, but added that they don’t have much hope as they will not settle for anything less than the repeal of the contentious farm laws.

    Since a Supreme Court-appointed panel on farm laws is likely to hold its first meeting on January 19, the meeting on January 15 between with the government and the unions may be the last one.

    Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) Joginder Singh Ugrahan told PTI, “We are going to hold talks with the government tomorrow. We don’t have much hope from the Friday meeting as the government will cite the SC-appointed panel. The government doesn’t have good intention to resolve our issues.” Mr. Ugrahan said that the unions do not want any committee, adding “we just want a complete repeal of three farm laws and legal guarantee on minimum support price for our crops”. He said that farmers will not call off their protest until their demands are met.

    Another farmer leader, Abhimanyu Kohar, said that government knows that the court cannot repeal the laws and added that the Centre should stop playing with the sentiments of farmers who have been camping at several Delhi borders since November 28.

    He said that forming a committee is not a solution, adding that the new farm laws have been enacted by Parliament and the court cannot do much. While the previous eight rounds of negotiations have failed to end the protests continuing for several weeks on various borders of the national capital, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said earlier in the day that the government is hopeful of positive discussions at the scheduled January 15 meeting.

    In an interview to PTI, Anil Ghanwat, a member of the Supreme Court-appointed committee, said that the panel will have no “ego or prestige issue” if it has to go to farmers’ protest sites to talk to them.

    On the government holding parallel talks with protesting farmers scheduled for January 15,  Ghanwat said, “I think this will be their last meeting with the government. They will say henceforth you (farmers) have to sit with the committee, which will give a report to the Supreme Court.”

    Agriculture Ministry denies RTI query on farm law consultations

    New Delhi (TIP): The Agriculture Ministry has denied a Right to Information (RTI) request for details on pre-legislative consultations on the farm reform laws, saying the matter is sub judice.

    In its response, the Ministry cited the clause from the RTI Act that exempts information which has been expressly forbidden to be published by a court of law or whose disclosure would amount to contempt of court.

    This comes after an earlier response claiming that the Ministry did not have any record of such consultations.

    RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj had filed her request on December 11, asking for specific details regarding the stakeholder consultations held before the Centre promulgated the three ordinances on agricultural reforms in June. Within the 30-day period given to respond, two Central Public Information Officers (CPIOs) in the agricultural marketing divisions of the Ministry disposed of her request, saying that they did not have any record of such consultations.

    The Hindu had reported this on January 12, a day after the Ministry told the Supreme Court that farm unions were “peddling an erroneous notion” that no consultations were held.