Delhi Chalo March: Centre offers farmers 5-year plan to buy crops at minimum support price

In response to the farmers' demands, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) announced plans to gherao the residences of BJP leaders in Punjab for three days, starting February 20.

A negotiation lasting nearly five hours ended on February 19 with a panel of Union ministers proposing to leaders of agitating farmers that the government will purchase pulses, maize, and cotton crops at the minimum support prices (MSP) for the next five years.

Tune into Moneycontrol's live blog on Delhi Chalo agitation.

The representatives from the government at the fourth round of negotiation at Chandigarh's Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration in Sector 26 included Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Arjun Munda, Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

The meeting began at 8:15pm on February 18 and concluded around 1am on February 19. While addressing reporters after the meeting, Goyal highlighted the panel's proposal and the agreement reached with the protesting farmers.

Also Read: MC Explainer | Of subsidies and debt: A look at Punjab’s key economic issues

Thousands of farmers have thronged the Shambhu and Khanauri points of the Punjab-Haryana border for a Delhi Chalo march in demand for a law to guarantee the minimum support price for their produce. Delhi went into a state of high security since the protest broke out on February 13. Barricades have been put up along the Delhi interstate borders to avert disturbance in the Capital.

Also Read: Making MSP legal obligation can create complexities, warns agricultural economist Ashok Gulati

The 'Delhi Chalo' agitation, which enters its sixth day on February 19, also involves farmers advocating for the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, and the withdrawal of police cases.

In response to the farmers' demands, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) announced plans to gherao the residences of BJP leaders in Punjab for three days, starting February 20. SKM leader Balbir Singh Rajewal noted that protests would be staged in front of the homes of Punjab BJP leaders, including MPs, MLAs, and district presidents, it has been learnt from PTI. Additionally, toll barriers in the state would be protested, in a bid to make those free for all commuters during these days.

Rajewal, in an interaction with the Press on February 19, emphasised that the SKM would not settle for anything less than the C-2 plus 50 percent formula for MSP, as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission, reports PTI.

He announced a meeting scheduled for February 22 in Delhi to plan future strategies, asserting that their struggle would persist even if the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections were in effect.

The earlier three meetings between the government and the farmer leaders on February 8, 12, and 15 remained inconclusive.