Protesting farmer unions remain adamant on their demands, meeting still underway in Chandigarh

Farmers protest: Three Union ministers held a third round of talks with the leaders of protesting farmer unions in Chandigarh on Thursday, amid a standoff between the protesters and security personnel at two points on the Punjab-Haryana border. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also joined the meeting at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration in Sector 26 here. Union Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Arjun Munda, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai represented the Centre at the meeting over the farmer unions’ various demands, including a law guaranteeing a minimum support price (MSP) for crops. The talks were underway till late at night. This was the third round of talks between the two sides. The two previous rounds of dialogue on February 8 and 12 remained inconclusive. Among the farmer leaders taking part in the meeting are SKM (Non-Political) leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal and Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher.