9th round of talks between government, farmer leaders underway in Delhi

The ninth round of talks between Centre and representative of farmer unions protesting on Delhi borders against the three newly passed farm laws began at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi on Friday.

Ahead of the meeting, Rakesh Tikait, spokespersons of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BHU) reiterated that to resolve the issues of protesting farmers, the government will have to repeal the three newly passed laws.

"Government needs to devise a plan to scrap the three laws and give legal guarantee for minimum support price," said Tikait.

Meanwhile, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh welcomed Supreme Court ruling on farmers' agitation and though the government is still trying to solve the issues with dialogue, however, it will present its case before the court-mandated committee when summoned by it.

"Between this meeting and last meeting, the Supreme Court's verdict came regarding farmers' protest. Government welcomes the Supreme Court order regarding the farmers' agitation. The government will put forth its views before the committee (appointed by the apex court) when we called. Because the discussions are on between farmers and government and this date was decided earlier, we are still trying to find a solution via dialogue," said the Union Minister.

When asked if the government will continue dialogue with farmers now that Supreme Court has formed a committee to resolve the issue, Tomar said that will depend on the outcome of today's meeting.

"The next date for the meeting will depend upon the outcome of the meeting. The date is decided after consent from both sides. And if both sides are ready to continue the dialogue then next date will be decided," he added.

The Supreme Court had on Tuesday stayed the implementation of three farms laws until further orders and formed a four-member committee.