Union Minister Pralhad Joshi will lead the central team in a meeting with farmer representatives on Friday to discuss their demands, including a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) on crops. The meeting, set to take place at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration in Chandigarh, will include a 28-member farmer delegation, Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian, and other officials. Prominent farmer leaders such as Jagjit Singh Dallewal, Sarwan Singh Pandher, and Abhimanyu Kohar will participate, with Dallewal, who has been on an indefinite hunger strike since November 26, being transported from the Khanauri protest site in an ambulance.
The talks follow multiple rounds of negotiations between the Centre and farmers, with discussions last year remaining inconclusive. The Centre had previously proposed a five-year MSP procurement plan for certain crops, which was rejected by farmers. A delegation from the Union agriculture ministry had invited representatives from the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha for further discussions, leading to the upcoming meeting. Farmers have been protesting at Punjab-Haryana border points since February 2023 after security forces blocked their march to Delhi.
In addition to a legal MSP guarantee, farmers are demanding a debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm laborers, withdrawal of police cases, and compensation for families of farmers who died during past agitations. They are also pushing for the reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and justice for victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence. The upcoming meeting is expected to address these long-standing grievances, with farmer leaders urging the Centre to reach a resolution.
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