Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a virtual meeting with nine Crore Farmers-former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birthday-in which he will explain the stance of the Center on farm legislation and release the next batch of financial aid-18,000 Crore-from the PM-Kisan scheme.
The meeting will include a dialogue with selected farmers from six countries who “will share their experiences.on initiatives taken by the government for the(ir) welfare” a statement made by the Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday evening.
Interaction is part of the Centre’s efforts-over 100 news conferences and 700 meetings-to tackle a nearly month-long protest against the laws of agriculture by thousands of angry farmers. The BJP will also distribute an open letter to farmers, written by Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar.
“Narendra Tomarji has expressed his feelings by writing a letter to farmer brothers and sisters, trying to have a polite dialogue. I request all the contributors to read it…,” said PM Modi.
Farmers fear that the current legislation would leave them to corporate mercy. The centre maintains that they only have the option of selling at the markets and rates of their choosing. Many rounds of talks have failed; farmers demand that the laws be repealed while the centre only amends those parts.
Farmers’ unions said on Tuesday that the decision to embrace the centre’s call for fresh talks had been postponed by one day. Addressing reporters at Singhu on the Delhi-Haryana border, Kulwant Singh Sandhu, a farmer leader, said the views of unions across India will be considered.
