After concluding the sixth round of talks with the farmer unions on Wednesday, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that the two parties had come to middle grounds on two of the four points in the agenda. Other issues will be discussed on January 4 at 2 PM, Tomar added. 

For more than a month, farmers, majorly from Punjab and Haryana, are protesting against the Centre’s newly passed three farm laws, which were passed in September. Protesting farmers are camping at different border points of Delhi, demanding a complete withdrawal of the farm laws. As of now, all rounds of the talks between the Centre and farmers have remained inconclusive.

“Today’s talks were held in a very good environment & it concluded on a positive note. Consensus on 2 out of 4 issues was reached between both sides. First issue was an ordinance related to the Environment. Unions were apprehensive about farmers being included along with Parali ones. Both sides agreed to farmers’ exclusion,” ANI quoted Narendra Singh Tomar.

The Union leader further shed some light on the complaints of the farmers. He said that the unions were worried about the inclusion of reforms in the Electricity Act. The next meeting between the two parties is scheduled on Saturday.

“Farmers feel that if reform is introduced in the Electricity Act, they’ll suffer loss. Unions wanted that electricity subsidy given to farmers by states for irrigation should continue. The consensus was reached on this issue also. Govt has been saying that MSP will continue. We are ready to give this in writing. But farmers’ unions feel MSP should get legal status. So the discussion will continue on the legal aspect of MSP & other issues on Jan 4 at 2 pm.”

“There were 4 points on agenda today, out of which 2 points have been agreed upon. Talks concluded on a very good note, which further resulted in the formation of a healthy environment,” he added.