10th round of talks with Centre-farmers ends, next meeting on Jan 22

The government on Wednesday proposed to suspend the three contentious farm laws for one and half years and set up a joint committee to discuss the Acts to end the stalemate, but farmer leaders did not immediately accept the proposal and said they will revert after their internal consultations. The next meeting has been scheduled for January 22, a day after the farmer unions hold their internal discussions on Thursday, farmer leaders said after the 10th round of talks ended at Vigyan Bhawan here after nearly five hours of talks, including two breaks.

"The government proposed to suspend the farm laws for one and a half years. We rejected the proposal but since it has come from the government, we



will meet tomorrow and deliberate over it," Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan said. Another farmer leader Kavitha Kuruganti said the government also proposed to submit an affidavit in the Supreme Court for suspending the three farm laws for a mutually-agreed period and set up a committee. The leaders said unions are firm on their demand for a complete repeal of the laws, but they will still discuss the government's proposal and give their final decision in the next meeting.

During the meeting, the government also offered to amend the three laws but farmer leaders stuck to their demand and alleged that the Centre was avoiding discussion on a legal guarantee for MSP.