New Delhi: As protests against new farm laws continue across various locations in and around Delhi, some farmers, sitting idle, have taken to farming at Nirankari Samagam ground in Burari.
Farmers have dug up the ground and have sowed onion crops, ANI showed.
"Since we've been sitting idle for a month during protests, we thought of growing onions as we can use it for our daily cooking. We'll grow more crops on Burari ground," a farmer said.
Singhu border, Tikri border and Ghazipur border are some of the protest sites in Delhi that have been occupied by farmers for a month.
Meanwhile, protesting farmer unions on Saturday decided to resume their dialogue with the Centre, and proposed December 29 for the next round of talks to end the deadlock over the three newly enacted farm laws, but made it clear that the modalities for its repeal and guarantee for MSP should be part of the agenda.
The decision by the agitating farmers to hold another round of talks with the government was taken at a meeting of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of 40 farmer unions protesting at various Delhi border points against the farm laws for more than a month.
The decision also came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that his government is willing to hold talks with all, including its staunch critics, as long as they are based on farm issues, facts and logic, and squarely blamed political rivals for the stalemate in the Centre-farmer unions talks.
In a letter to Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Vivek Aggarwal, the Morcha said, "We propose that the next meeting between the farmers' representatives and the Government of India be held on December 29 2020 at 11 am." "As the government is willing to hold talks with us, and asking for a date and about our issues, we have proposed to hold a dialogue on December 29. Now, the ball is in the government's court, when it calls us for talks," Bhartiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait told PTI.
Addressing a press conference, farmer leaders said the modalities for the repeal of three farm laws and guarantee for MSP -- minimum support price at which the government procures crops from farmers -- should be part of the agenda for resuming talks with the government.
The farmers also decided to intensify their agitation, with farmer leader Darshan Pal saying that a tractor march will be held on Kundli-Manesar-Palwal highway on December 30. He asked people from Delhi and other parts of country to come and celebrate New Year with protesting farmers.
Another farmer leader, Rajinder Singh, said,"we will march from Singhu to Tikri to KMP. We ask farmers from surrounding states to come in huge numbers in their trolleys and tractors. If the govt doesn't want us to block the KMP highway, then they better announce the repeal of the three farm laws."
Earlier this week, Aggarwal had written to the 40 protesting unions and invited them for fresh talks, but made it clear that it would not be "logical" to include in the agenda any new demand related to the MSP, which is out of the purview of the three new farm laws.
(With agencies)
