New Delhi: Ahead of the eighth round of talks with the farmers on Friday, the Central government is considering to make the implementation of the contentious farm laws optional for the states, reports said.
“The proposal to make the laws optional had come up for discussion in one of the internal meetings in the agriculture ministry over a month back,” a government source said, as quoted by Financial Express.
In 2018, the government had circulated the model draft agricultural produce market committee (APMC) law which only a few states implemented, that too after tweaking the provisions, the source pointed. However, the government felt that by making the laws optional their relevance would be lost and these Acts would then be just like model draft laws, they said.
Baba Lakhhabal Singh of Nanaksar Gurdwara of Punjab met agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar at his residence on Thursday, where the minister is learnt to have discussed the proposal.
The government is likely to discuss the possibility of the same with the farmers in Friday’s talks. The deadlock between the farmers and the Centre continues to remain as the farmer protests enter 44th day today. The farmers are sticking to their demand for the repeal of the three Acts and a legally guaranteed minimum support price (MSP) mechanism.