After the assurance of the government, the farmers stopped dharna for a year

The SKM accepted the Centre’s proposals, including in a letter signed by Union Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal, towards resolving key agricultural issues. This paved the way for the SKM to call off one of the biggest farmers’ demonstrations the country has seen in decades.

The next meeting of the SKM will be held on January 15. The protesters would take out a victory procession from their camps on the Delhi border on December 11 on their way back to their villages, it was announced.

The settlement between the Center and the protesting farm unions came after two days of back-channel talks, with proposals being sent back and forth and 11 rounds of talks over the standoff on 22 January.

Tens of thousands of farmers protested against three agricultural reform laws enacted by the Modi government in September 2020, sitting on highways across states for 14 months. Thousands of people had also organized virtual protest camps at five sites along Delhi’s borders, disrupting traffic.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on 19 November that his government would abandon the controversial laws, and Parliament repealed them on 29 November. Abolishing the laws gave farmers an opportunity to re-engage with the government.

On December 7, the Center sent draft proposals to resolve the impasse, with the agriculture body proposing amendments.

The SKM on Thursday signed a final letter from the Center detailing important steps forward. “Today is a victory day for the farmers who launched the biggest movement in the country after the independence movement. Victory to those who feed the nation,” said Daljit Randhawa, a wheat grower from Punjab’s Sangrur, who has been camping at a protest site on the outskirts of the national capital for months.

The proposals contained in the agriculture secretary’s letter were unanimously accepted by a five-member team of agriculture leaders authorized to take decisions on behalf of the SKM.

In the letter, the Center said it would set up a panel mandated to “ensure how all farmers can get the Minimum Support Price (MSP)”. It also assured that the existing level of federal procurement of agricultural produce at assured prices would not be curtailed. ,

Yogendra Yadav, leader of Swaraj India and member of SKM’s coordination committee, said, “This allayed a major fear of farmers that the government may stop or reduce the purchase of agricultural produce at MSP.”

Farmers have demanded a law to ensure minimum prices for 22 commodities. Crisis sale of agricultural produce and price fluctuations in non-cereals have been a major problem among the cultivators.

The central government’s letter also stated that the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana have agreed to withdraw with immediate effect all cases registered against farmers and their supporters during the agitation, which SKM is a major demand.

The Center said cases against farmers registered by central law-enforcement agencies and union territories as well as the Delhi Police would also be withdrawn immediately.