• SKM holds a panchayat to protest against the government over MSP, Agnipath, and Lakhimpur violence issues

    National
    SKM holds a panchayat to protest against the government over MSP, Agnipath, and Lakhimpur violence issues

    According to the SKM, several persons wrote to the Centre about the MSP issue last September without informing other members.


    Digital Desk: The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) said on Tuesday that it would host a panchayat on August 22 to protest the government over MSP, the Agnipath program, and the Lakhimpur violence.


    A conference of the SKM, which had spearheaded the campaign against the now-scrapped farm legislation, was convened here, and it was resolved that the farmers' collective would not join with any political group and would stay fully apolitical.


    The SKM alleged that certain persons had written to the Centre about the MSP problem last September without informing the other SKM members.


    Some members wrote in the letter that the government should repeal The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, and replace it with The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, which would be a model act left to state governments' discretion. While the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020 is in effect.


    An SKM representative, while addressing the reporters in the city, stated, "We decided to cut ties with them when this was revealed. They attempted to market the movement. Today, the entire SKM has arrived. We have never permitted political parties or leaders to be linked with us, and we will not do so in the future. We invite non-political farmer organizations to join us in moving the campaign forward."


    The SKM also urged that all cases brought against farmers be dropped.


    It maintained that the farmer leaders who ran in the Punjab elections earlier this year are not members of the umbrella organization.


    During the meeting on Tuesday, it was also resolved to have a panchayat at the Jantar Mantar here on August 22 to discuss MSP, the Agnipath plan, and the Lakhimpur violence, he added. The next SKM meeting will be placed on August 23.


    The SKM has agreed to keep agitating on the legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP). The farmers' organization also wants India to leave the WTO.


    On December 14, 2021, a WTO panel suggested that India eliminate its allegedly banned subsidies under production assistance, buffer stock, marketing, and transportation programs within 120 days of the report's acceptance.


    Eight persons, including four farmers, were slain in Lakhimpur Kheri during a demonstration against Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit to the area on October 3, last year.


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