Farmers call off year-long protests against agricultural reforms after govt accepts demands

The farmers, who are camped in and around Delhi, said they will start vacating the protesting site from Dec 11.

Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi apologised to the country and withdrew the three contentious farm laws saying the government was unable to make a section of farmers understand the benefits of the reforms.

The laws were repealed by passing a bill in Parliament.

Not just repealing, the government has formed a committee comprising government officials, agricultural experts and members of farmers unions' umbrella body Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) to decide on the Minimum Support Price (MSP), which the protesters want to be legalised.

The government has also agreed to drop all police cases against farmers including the complaints over stubble burning and the ones filed by Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in connection with the violent clashes that broke out between peasants and security forces.

The erstwhile controversial laws would have allowed farmers across the country to sell their produce beyond the government regulated wholesale markets.

However, the protesting farmers, who are mostly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, felt they would be left at the mercy of private players with the gradual destabilisation of the wholesale markets.