“We’re not going anywhere. We are ready to sit here for years if needed. The government has to listen,” said Balwinder Singh, 50, who normally grows rice and wheat on 3 acres of land in Punjab. He has been protesting since Nov. 26 on the Singhu border, the epicentre of the demonstrations outside Delhi. “We can survive the coronavirus but not these laws.”
Behind the protesters’ fears and the government rhetoric is a reality that the country somehow needs to reshape its agricultural system or face the environmental consequences of overproduction and a fiscal calamity from ballooning farm subsidies. Get the reform right and it could raise millions of agriculture-dependent families out of poverty and propel India to the forefront of global food exports. Get it wrong and it could force tens of millions of people off their land and degrade up to 90% of the nation’s water supply.
Supreme Court Stays Implementation of Farm Laws, Sets Up Committee for Talks
Agricultural economist Ashok Gulati, Bhupinder Singh Mann of the Bhartiya Kisan Union, Anil Ghanwat of Shetkeri Sangthana and Pramod Kumar Joshi will be the members of the committee.
Supreme Court building. Photo: The Wire
Rights12/Jan/2021
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended the implementation of the Centre’s three contentious farm laws until further orders, saying it would constitute a committee to end the stalemate between the government and the protesting farmers’ unions.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) S.A. Bobde proposed agricultural economist Ashok Gulati, Bhupinder Singh Mann of the Bhartiya Kisan Union, Anil Ghanwat of Shetkeri Sangthana and Pramod Kumar Joshi as members of the committee. Each of these members, however, have made statements in the past publicly supporting the new laws.
URL copied Image Source : PTI
File photo: Farmers rest inside their makeshift tents at Delhi-UP Ghazipur border, during their protest against new farm law, in Ghaziabad.
Attorney General (AG) KK Venugopal on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that the Khalistan supporters have infiltrated the farmers protest against the three farm laws.
A bench headed by Chief Justice SAÂ Bobde and comprising Justices ASÂ Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian told the AG that if there is infiltration by a banned organisation, then the government has to confirm it and asked him to file an affidavit by Wednesday. AG replied, Yes, I will file an affidavit and the IB reports.