Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at various border points of Delhi for over a month now demanding repeal of the three laws – the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce Act, the Essential Commodities Act, and the Farmers Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act. The Supreme Court had on January 11 stayed the implementation of the three laws till further orders and appointed a four-member panel to resolve the impasse.
Farmer unions protesting against the Centre’s agri laws said that they will go ahead with their proposed tractor parade in Delhi on Republic Day. This announcement by the unions has come just a day before the Supreme Court will hear the petition seeking an injunction against the proposed tractor rally that seeks to disrupt the celebrations on January 26.
The tenth round of talks between the government and the protesting farmer unions is scheduled on January 19. The previous nine rounds of formal talks between the Centre and 41 farmer unions have failed to yield any concrete results to end the long-running protest at Delhi’s borders.
