The ninth round of talks between the farmer-unions and the government is underway, as the farmers’ protests entered 52^nd day today. This comes in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling appointing a four-member panel to resolve the impasse. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Railways, Commerce and Food Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Parkash, who is an MP from Punjab, are holding the talks with the representatives of around 40 farmer unions at the Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.

Also Read: Debate over farm laws in Supreme Court

Tomar had on Thursday confirmed the talks saying that it will be done with ‘an open mind’. “The government’s ninth round of negotiations with protesting farmer unions will take place as scheduled on Friday and the Centre is hopeful of positive discussions. The government is ready to hold talks with farmers’ leaders with an open mind,” he said.

The farmer unions have been maintaining that they were ready to attend the scheduled talks with the government, even as they have said that they do not want to appear before the court-appointed panel and have also questioned its composition. The farmers asserting their demand of repealing the farm-laws had burnt the copies of the laws while celebrating Lohri at the protest sites far away from their families and farm-fields.

On Thursday, two days after the Supreme Court named him as one of the four members of an expert committee, tasked to listen to grievances of farmers opposed to the new agriculture laws and the views of the government, Bhupinder Singh Mann, president of BKU (Mann) and chairman of All India Kisan Coordination Committee recused himself from the court-appointed panel and said “I will always stand with my farmers and Punjab”.

Meanwhile, asking people to join the farmers’ “Satyagraha” against the Modi government, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Friday spoke out in support of the ongoing protests and against rising fuel prices in the country. The Congress is observing the day as Kisan Adhikar Divas and will take out protest marches in all state capitals.

Anna Hazare reiterated his decision to launch “the last hunger strike” of his life on farmers’ issues in Delhi

Activist Anna Hazare on Thursday wrote a letter to Prime Minister and reiterated his decision to launch “the last hunger strike” of his life on farmers’ issues in Delhi by January end. The letter comes even as farmers’ unions are agitating on Delhi borders against the Centre’s new farm laws. He will stage the fast by month-end, 83-year-old Hazare said, without specifying the date.

On December 14, Hazare had written to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, warning of a hunger strike if his demands including the implementation of the MS Swaminathan Committee’s recommendations on agriculture were not fulfilled. Another demand made by him was the grant of autonomy to the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices. “On the issue of farmers, I have had correspondence (with the Centre) five times, however, no response came. As a result, I have decided to go on the last hunger strike of my life,” said Hazare in his missive to the prime minister.