New Delhi: The Supreme Court-appointed committee will continue to seek suggestions from farmer associations, irrespective of whether their unions take up the Narendra Modi government offer to suspend the three contentious farm laws for one or one-and-a-half years, said Pramod Kumar Joshi, a member of the panel and agricultural economist.
“It is not for us to comment on whether the farmers will take up the proposal or what will happen to the committee in such a scenario. We will continue to do the work that the Supreme Court has tasked us with until further orders,” Joshi told ThePrint.
Despite the controversy around the pro-reform personal views of the panellists, Joshi said, the mandate of the panel is only to compile farmers’ suggestions and apprehensions and present it to the apex court.
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‘SC hasn’t asked for our own views’
On 12 January, the Supreme Court had stayed the implementation of the three laws and appointed a four-member committee to break the logjam in negotiations. It is expected to submit its report within two months.
The court named Ashok Gulati, agricultural economist and professor, Anil Ghanwat, president of Shetkari Sanghatana, a Maharashtra-based farmer organisation, and Bhupinder Singh Mann, national president of a splinter unit of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), as the other members.
The panel ran into a controversy immediately after it was formed as the four members were public votaries of the three laws. Since then, Mann has recused himself.
For Joshi, however, the controversy is of no consequence.
“When you are given a responsibility, in this case, by the honourable SC no less, then you have to leave aside your own views. The Supreme Court hasn’t asked for our own views. They have asked for farmers’ views and that is what we are compiling. Whatever we gather we will submit to SC,” said Joshi.
‘Good response from farmers’
On Thursday, the panel met the first batch of farmers from eight states to seek suggestions and feedback on the laws.
“We met 10 farmer associations today from eight states — Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. We had sent the invitation to 18 but 15 accepted. Of this 15, five backed out but will be joining us in the next meeting scheduled for 27 January,” said Joshi.
These associations are not part of the protesting unions.
Despite the ongoing protest at Delhi’s borders for close to two months now, Joshi said the panel got a good response from the farmers.
“We have got good suggestions from the farmers and have taken their views on the three laws. We are not asking them whether they want the laws repealed or not. That’s not our mandate. Our mandate is only to seek suggestions from farmers and other stakeholders,” said Joshi.
Farmer unions have stated both in court and outside that they will not appear before the panel, but Joshi is hopeful they will join talks soon. While the committee is yet to decide if it will go to the borders and meet the protesting farmers, Joshi is optimistic that protesting farmers will appear before the panel.
“We are hopeful that they will come and meet us. We are not distinguishing between farmer unions that are for or against the laws,” said Joshi.
In the coming days, the panel will create a website for farmers to upload their suggestions.
“The website will be ready by early next week and it will have a questionnaire for farmers on the three laws. We are even discussing MSP (minimum support price) with the farmers even though it’s not part of the three laws. We will compile our findings and submit to the court,” he said.
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