Farmers halt agitation for two days

 Government's invitation for 5th round of talks with farmers

Updates on farmers' protest and government response-

The groups of farmers who had been marching to Delhi demanding a moratorium on farm loans and a legal guarantee for the purchase of crops with the minimum support price (MSP) called the strike off on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, on the Punjab-Haryana border, a farmer was killed, and multiple others were injured when police fired tear gas shells.

In the words of Sarwan Singh Pandher, general secretary of Punjab Kisan Mazdoor,

“We will discuss the current situations over the next two days and decide the future course of action on Friday.”

On Wednesday, Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda called for a fifth round of talks with the agitating farmers to discuss "all the outstanding issues including the MSP, stubble burning and also pending cases against the protestors." Pandher voiced his opinion that the government should share the agenda for future meetings.

Government officials, including Agriculture Minister Munda and Food Minister Piyush Goyal, met the farmers for a fourth time on February 18th. After the meeting, the government assured the farmers that state-owned agencies Nafed and NCCF would buy five crops from them at the minimum support price (MSP) for the next five years, with no volume limit. The crops included cotton, maize, tur, urad, and masoor.

The current March to Delhi was called by the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee of Punjab and the SKM (non-political), both of which had previously been involved in the SKM agitation against three farm laws in 2020 and 2021.