Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar met Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday amid the farmers’ protests against the Centre’s three agriculture laws , officials said. Mr. Tomar was accompanied by Som Parkash.
The Ministers were accompanied by BJP leaders from Punjab. It was not immediately known what transpired in the meeting.
Mr. Tomar and Mr. Parkash, along with their ministerial colleague Piyush Goyal, had led the government’s negotiations with the protesting farmers.
Farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at the borders of Delhi demanding the repeal of the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
Enacted in September, the three laws have been projected by the government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country.
However, the protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and do away with the mandi system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.
