Farm stir: Yogi government to hold back-channel talks with farmers

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / Dec 7, 2020

In the backdrop of raging protests on the central farm laws and the ‘Bharat Bandh’ call by the protesting farmers, the Uttar Pradesh government will be holding back-channel talks with the farmers’ organisations to desist from the proposed stir on Tuesday.

UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath has directed top officials to hold confabulations with the representatives of different farmers’ bodies in all the 75 districts and convince them to call off their proposed ‘Bharat Bandh’ on December 8.

Chairing a review meeting here, he stressed the state government was taking all steps in the interests of farmers, including making adequate and timely availability of critical farm inputs viz. seeds, irrigation, fertiliser etc.

Over the past few days, several rounds of talks between the protesting farmers, mainly from Punjab, and the central government have failed to break the deadlock even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the new farm laws as imperative to empower Indian farmers and open new markets for their agricultural produce, both nationally and internationally.

In view of the Bharat Bandh call, the respective divisional commissioners, district magistrates and police chiefs in UP have also been asked for maintaining vigil and patrolling to prevent any untoward incident.

Meanwhile, the CM instructed the state agricultural marketing department to ensure smooth functioning of the agro procurement centres in the ongoing paddy procurement season and prompt payment to the paddy and sugarcane farmers. He ordered for taking strict action against those responsible for delaying the farmers’ payment.

So far, the UP government agencies have procured about 2.7 million tonnes (MT) of paddy from nearly half a million farmers on the minimum support price (MSP). The MSP of A-grade and common variety of paddy in this kharif season has been fixed at Rs 1,888 per quintal and Rs 1,868 per quintal respectively.

The state is targetting to procure 5.5 MT of paddy in the current kharif marketing season.

Yogi further issued directives to take progressive steps for increasing the farm income, including production of compressed natural gas (CNG) from cow dung. He asked for engaging the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to integrate those cow shelters, which house more than a thousand cattle, in the CNG production chain to augment the income of local farmers.

Besides, the CM stressed upon leveraging the central government’s flagship Aatmanirbhar Bharat package for benefitting the state entrepreneurs and creating the basic infrastructure facilities for investors. He observed the government could become a catalyst for the composite development of UP only after providing a conducive business environment.