Farmers protest: Deadlock continues, next round of t

The ninth round of talks between the central government and farmer unions over the farm laws again failed to reach any solution. The two sides could not reach common ground on the issues of repeal of the farm laws. The next meeting will take place on January 19.

This was the first meeting after the Supreme Court-appointed a committee to resolve the deadlock over farm laws. Union Agriculture Minister Narendran Singh Tomar, Railways, Commerce and Food Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Prakash, who is an MP from Punjab, held talks with the representative of around 40 farmer unions for over four hours.

Mr Tomar suggested that the government has offered that the farmers can form an informal group among themselves and submit a proposal on what they want.

He also said the government was hopeful of discussions with farmers reaching some decisive stage at the 10th round of talks on January 19. Tomar said that he has no problem with the fact that the unions want to continue dialogue with only the government, but also said the SC-appointed panel will also continue its work.