Farmers protest Updates: Centre to hold round 4 talks with farm leaders today

The central government will hold the fourth round of talks with leaders of farmers’ unions on Sunday, February 18, to end the ongoing ‘Delhi chalo’ protests at Punjab-Haryana borders.

The previous round of talks largely remained inconclusive as they failed to address the farmers’ demands for a legal guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP) of their crops.

Meanwhile, the ban on internet services has been extended for two more days in Haryana, till February 19. The government had earlier extended the suspension of mobile internet from February 13 till February 15.

Amidst the ongoing agitation by farmers demanding legal recognition of the MSP and implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report, including on pricing mechanism, prominent agricultural economist Dr Sardara Singh Johl has said that giving MSP on all crops “is not practical”.

Farm leaders on Saturday said “the ball is in the government’s court” a day before meeting with Union ministers Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal and Nityanand Rai for the fourth round of talks to resolve the issues.

On the fifth day of their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march — called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha — the farmers stayed put at the Shambhu and Khanauri points of the Punjab-Haryana border as they press the Centre to accept their demands, including a legal guarantee to minimum support price (MSP) for crops.