On, Monday, October 19, a meeting was held between members of Bhartiya Kisan Union-BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) and the ministerial panel of the Punjab Cabinet regarding the farmer laws related conflicts and ongoing protests. The sole purpose of this meeting was to convince the farmers to dial down their protests as it is creating problems for the state government.

BKU protestors had also threatened to ‘gherao’ (cover) the Vidhan Sabha but dropped the plan after receiving calls from the government to sit down and have a discussion. At the meeting, the president of BKU, Joginder Singh Ugrahan made the statement that the protests would not stop unless they are completely satisfied with the government’s actions to reject the farmer laws that have already been passed by the Parliament. Joginder Singh Ugrahan said, “We also want the Congress government to withdraw the amendments made by the state government in 2017 related to the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act, and monetary compensation for those who died in the agitation.”

Three ministers from the cabinet later disclosed that the government had agreed to cancel all the registered cases against farmers in Punjab as demanded by the Farmers Union.

In addition to this, the Punjab Government is planning to introduce 3 new legislations to be put against the existing laws passed by the Parliament, namely – The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. Under the rules of the three laws, especially the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Special Provisions and Punjab Amendment Bill, 2020 any sale of food-grains in the state would be allowed only if the sale value is equal to or higher than the MSP.

This has been done concerning the recent happenings where the protestors agreed to lift their ‘rail roko’ plan on the condition that the government will reject the three agricultural laws. The legislations to be brought in will be focusing on ensuring Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the farmers to buy food grains.

The Business Advisory Committee meeting held on Monday was decided to take place beforehand as the Punjab Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh gave a hint of taking an ‘exemplary’ action in the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting on Sunday, October 18.

The author is a student member of Amity Centre of Happiness.