Indian paramilitary force soldiers man a barricade to stop protesting farmers entering Delhi at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh state border, India, Dec 30, 2020. (PHOTO / AP)

The Indian government and protesting farmers have agreed on two issues in the latest round of talks while discussions on the major demands of farmers to repeal three controversial laws will continue next week.

Representatives from both sides reached a consensus on two issues on Dec 30 after endured talks — decriminalization of stubble burning and safeguarding power subsidies. The meeting, however, failed to break the deadlock over the main contentious issues of the repeal of three farm laws and a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for farm produce.

Farmer representatives said their protest on the outskirts of Delhi will continue until the controversial laws are repealed

The next round of talks will resume on Jan 4 on the two outstanding issues. Farmer representatives said their protest on the outskirts of Delhi will continue until the laws are repealed.

It was the sixth round of talks between the representatives of over 40 farmer organizations and the central government. The talks have been held at Delhi’s Vijyan Bhawan or the government’s convention center.

After the nearly five-hour meeting, agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said, “Talks concluded on a positive note. Consensus on two out of four issues was reached between both sides.”

Railways minister Piyush Goyal and minister of state for commerce Som Parkash were also present at the meeting.  

READ MORE: Modi offers talks to end India protests against farm reforms

Tomar said, “The farm unions were apprehensive about farmers facing fines and jail for stubble burning cases under the ordinance on air quality in the capital. We have agreed to exclude farmers from these penalties.”

 “Farmers felt that amendments to the Electricity Act will harm them, and wanted to ensure the continuance of state power subsidies for irrigation purposes. We have reached an agreement on this also,” he added.

Tomar requested the farmers several times to end the protest as talks were going on. With temperatures around Delhi dipping to near zero, he urged farmer leaders to send home the women, children and the elderly who were taking part in the protest.

The government will meet the farmer leaders on Jan 4, Tomar said, adding that discussions on the three farm laws and MSP will continue in the next round of talks.

Professor Karori Singh, Emeritus Fellow and former director of South Asia Studies Centre at the University of Rajasthan said: “The core demands stand still.”

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He said both farmers and government agreed to search for an alternative to the farmers' demands and governments’ position on the law amendment. “The choice is very limited and tight rope walking as both stick to their respective positions.”  

However, he said, “A ‘good will’ or understanding has been generated. The farmers postponed the planned ‘tractor rally’ to intensify the movement as a good will gesture while the government agreed on the two minor demands.”

He predicted that the agitation will continue but will not intensify and the government will not take any provocative step. The generation of goodwill is a positive sign for reaching the conclusive agreement on Jan 4.  “Both got time to do sufficient homework to search for an 'alternative' option between two extreme positions,” he added.

With regard to an MSP law, the government “proposed to form a committee to look into the demand, which we rejected”, said Kavitha Kuruganti, the lone woman representative of farmers who participated in the talks.

Protesting farmer leaders kept insisting on the repeal of the three farm laws, but the government side tried to explain to them the benefits of the Acts and sought to understand the specific problems faced by the farmers.

“We told them to first repeal the three farm laws and then a committee can be set up to look at all these issues,” said Abhimanyu Kohar, another representative. 

“Talks were positive. The government was insisting that we should end the agitation. But we won't take back our movement,” said Balkaran Singh Brar, a representative who was present in the meeting.

Another farmer representative Kalwant Singh Sandhu said Wednesday’s talks mostly focused on electricity and stubble burning, while the next meeting would focus on the MSP guarantee and the three farm laws.

In the latest meeting between the two sides, the three Union ministers were seen sharing meals the farm leaders had brought with them during the lunch break. The farm leaders reciprocated the gesture by having tea served by the government. In five earlier rounds of talks, the farm leaders had refused to take meals served by the government.

The anti-pollution ordinance invoked in October imposes fines of up to 10 million rupees on polluters, including farmers. The burning of crop residue is one of the major causes of severe pollution in northern India.

The Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala alleged in a tweet that duping and deceiving farmers was the "new normal". Many opposition parties have been demanding a repeal of the three farm laws and have supported the farmers’ agitation.

The three farm laws passed by the country's parliament are the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020.

Buddhi Prasad Sharma, Associate Professor of Leshan Normal University in Sihuan, and Senior Research Fellow/Project Director, Center for Trans-Himalaya Studies (CTHS), said that farmers’ demand to scrap the new laws for fear that the laws will constrain their agriculture business and reduce their market access.

Modi government’s pro-capitalist policy has forced farmers to abandon traditional farming practices, he said, and the farmers said the government served only the rich or elite groups. 

“The negotiation is continuing between two sides but it seems hard to reach a proper consensus,” he said.

He added Modi’s popularity among the common people may have dropped as the protests dragged on.

Guo Xuetang, a professor at Center for South Asia and Indian Ocean Studies of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics and an expert on international relations, said that it is not likely that Modi, as a strong-minded and determined leader, will repeal the laws, particularly when considering that they were already enacted.

“But facing the mounting pressure from the farmers and their protests, it is possible that he will make some minor changes to suit their needs, such as better ensuring their interests, to gain their support.”

Thousands of farmers have been camping on major highways on the outskirts of Delhi since Nov 26 demanding the immediate repeal of the three laws and a legal guarantee on the MSP.

Aparajit Chakraborty is a freelance journalist for China Daily.