Farmers' march
Farmers reject Centre's proposal, to resume Delhi march from Wednesday
New Delhi/IBNS: The borders around Delhi are likely to witness another round of showdown starting Wednesday as protesting farmers have rejected the Centre's proposal of a five-year contract to buy pulses, maize, and cotton at the old minimum support price.
The protesting farmers made the announcement hours after the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella organisation of farmer unions that is not part of the current protests, also criticised the MSP proposal.
Addressing a press conference at the Shambhu border, between Punjab and Haryana, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher Monday said the proposal is not acceptable to them and the protesting farmers will "peacefully" resume their march towards Delhi from Wednesday.
"The government made a proposal (on Sunday night) and we have studied it. It doesn't make sense for the MSP to apply to only two or three crops and for the other farmers to be left to fend for themselves," farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal said.
"The honourable minister said yesterday that if the government guarantees MSP on daals (split pulses), it will put an additional burden of ₹ 1.5 lakh crore. A study by (former Agricultural Price Commission chairman) Prakash Kammardi has, however, revealed that the total cost will be Rs. 1.75 lakh crore for all crops," he said.
Pointing out that the government spends Rs. 1.75 lakh crore to import palm oil into the country, which he claimed is harmful to the health of the people, Dallewal said the same amount could be spent on helping farmers grow oilseeds on which MSP could be declared.
Much like in 2020, farmers from Punjab, Haryana marched towards Delhi, dubbed as 'Delhi Chalo'.
A prolonged and violent protests by the farmers in 2020 against the Centre's farm laws had prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw them.
In a similar approach, the farmers from Punjab and Haryana started marching towards Delhi this year.
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