SC-Appointed Committee Submits a Sealed Report on Farm Laws

The committee has reportedly said that around 85 organisations have been consulted to find a solution in the issue.

Farmers burn copies of the farm bill. Image for representative purposes.

(Photo: PTI)

The three-member committee appointed by the Supreme Court on the three contentious farm laws submitted its report of its observations in a sealed cover, ANI reported.

The committee has reportedly said that around 85 farmer organisations have been consulted to find a solution in the issue.

Any other details of the report are unknown.

The Supreme Court in January 2021 had temporaily stayed the three controversial farm laws and formed a four-member committee to take over negotiations with the farmers.

The committee included Agricultural economist Ashok Gulati, Bharatiya Kisan Union (Mann) President Bhupinder Singh Mann, Shetkari Sangathan President Anil Ghanwat and Pramod Kumar Joshi of the International Food Policy Research Institute.

However, two days after the formation, Mann had recused himself from the committee.

Protests by farmers from Punjab and Haryana continue at the three protest sites at the bordes of Delhi in Singhu, Tikri, and Ghazipur against the Centre’s three contentious farm laws.

After several round of talks with the farmers by Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and other Union ministers failed, the apex court had stayed the laws and formed the committee to “solve the problem”.

The protests had turned violent in the national capital on 26 January, when the tractor rally carried out by the farmers allegedly deviated from the designated routes leading to clashes between the protesters and the police.

The Modi-government has repeatedly assured farmers that the three laws in no way threaten their lands and do not take away MSPs. The farmers, however have demanded that the laws be repealed and a guarantee of MSPs to be provided to them.