Amid the ongoing agitation over the farm laws, the sixth round of meeting between the farmers and the Centre will take place on December 9. However, prior to that, the protesting farmers have called a nationwide ‘Bharat Bandh’ on December 8 (Tuesday). While this nationwide strike is finding support from several quarters including the Opposition parties, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), and the All India Transport Welfare Association (AITWA), the transport sector's top organisation, have decided not to join the bandh.
Markets across the country to remain open
The All India Transport Welfare Association (AITWA) and the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) have said that the country's market and transport are not included in the Bharat Band on December 8. Markets across the country, including Delhi, will remain open and business activities, in general, will continue to remain operational. The transport sector will continue to operate as before and the movement of goods will also be fully operational.
Farmers' organisations has not sought support
CAIT's national president BC Bhartia, national general secretary Praveen Khandelwal, and AITWA national chairman Pradeep Singhal and president Mahendra Arya issued a joint statement. Issuing a joint statement, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and All India Transporters Welfare Association (AITWA) said none of the farmer leaders or associations have approached them seeking support on the issue and therefore, traders and transporters are not participating in the "Bharat Bandh".
'No justification for the shutdown now'
The statement added that there is no justification for ‘Bharat Bandh’ when the farmers' leaders are in talks with the government. He said that the sympathies of the traders and transporters of the country are with the farmers, as they are a very important and integral part of the economy of the country just like the traders and transporters. “We are confident that the dialogue between the government and the farmer leaders will yield positive results,” the joint statement read.
Farmers need assurance
The top CAIT and AITWA members said that the farmers of the country must be assured that they get their due profits. This environment has to be creating so that farmers can cultivate their fields freely and grow good crops. In this order, the traders of the country will cooperate fully with the farmers and if there is any shortage on the part of the traders, the transport sector will also spare no effort to provide better transport to the farmers.
The farmers are adamant that three laws – The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 – passed by the Parliament in September this year be repealed immediately.
The BJP government on their part is advocating the fact that these laws are actually for the benefit of the farmers. The government’s appeasement offer to amend these laws also been rejected by over 40 farmer union leaders, who are sitting on five different borders with a set of five major demands since November 26.
