New Delhi, December 26: Farmer unions on Saturday accepted the Centre's offer to hold talks to end the deadlock over the three farm laws enacted by the Central government in September this year. The farmers agreed to hold talks with the government on December 29 at 11 am. The decision was taken by the joint front of around 40 farmers unions after a meeting. It will be the sixth round of talks.

The farmer unions want complete rollback of the law. Yogendra Yadav of Swaraj India said, “The first two points in our agenda for talks are- modalities to repeal the three farm laws, and mechanism and procedure to bring law for providing a legal guarantee on MSP (Minimum Support Price).” Hanuman Beniwal-Led RLP Quits NDA in Protest Against Farm Laws, Second BJP Ally to Leave Alliance After Akali Dal.

Statement by Yogendra Yadav:

The development came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a financial aid of Rs 18,000 crore to over nine crore farmers under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme. PM Modi also promised the farmers that their farmlands would not be taken away from them and alleged that opposition parties were spreading lies. Harinder Singh Khalsa, Former Lok Sabha MP, Resigns From BJP in Protest Against Farm Laws.

The Union Agriculture Ministry had extended a fresh invite earlier this week to hold talks. However, made it clear that it would not be "logical" to include in the agenda any new demand related to minimum support price (MSP), saying it was out of the purview of the new farm laws. Earlier, the five rounds of talks between the Centre and leaders of farmer unions remained inconclusive.

Farmers' protest has entered 31st day today. Farmers across the nation are protesting against the recently enacted laws. Most of the farmers who are protesting are from Punjab and Haryana. They fear that these laws will dilute the minimum support price (MSP) as APMCs would be destroyed. Farmers are demanding the complete rollback of the laws.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 26, 2020 06:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).