NEW DELHI, Dec 28 - The government on Monday invited 40 protesting farmer unions for the next round of talks on December 30 on all relevant issues to find a �logical solution� to the current impasse over the farm laws.
The government�s invite followed a proposal made by unions last week to hold the talks on Tuesday, December 29, on agenda including modalities for the repeal of the three laws enacted in September.
In a letter to the unions, Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Aggarwal has invited them for holding talks at 2 pm on Wednesday at Vigyan Bhavan in the national capital. The last meeting took place on December 5, in which union leaders had demanded a clear �yes or no� answer from the government on their main demand of the repeal of the three laws.
Taking note of the unions� offer to resume talks, Aggarwal said, �The government is also committed to finding a logical solution on all relevant issues with a clear intention and an open mind.�
With regard to the proposed agenda by the unions for the meeting, the Secretary said a detailed discussion will take place on three farm laws, MSP procurement system as well as Electricity Amendment bill and ordinance to tackle air pollution in and around Delhi/NCR.
However, the government letter did not make any specific reference to one key condition proposed by the unions seeking talks on modalities for the repeal of the Acts.
So far, five rounds of formal talks held between the Centre and 40 protesting farmer unions remained inconclusive. The last round of talks was held on December 5, while the sixth round of talks originally scheduled for December 9 was called off a day after an informal meeting of Home Minister Amit Shah with some union leaders failed to reach any breakthrough.
The government had, however, followed up Shah�s meeting with a draft proposal sent to the unions in which it had suggested 7-8 amendments to the new laws and written assurance on the MSP procurement system. � PTI
