Meeting of Parliamentary panel on agriculture adjourned; only 6 out of 29 members turn up

New Delhi: A meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture was adjourned on Friday due to a lack of quorum. Only six out of 29 MPs turned up for the meeting which was supposed to be briefed on ‘doubling of farmers’ income.

Apart from the Committee Chairman of the Parvatagouda, Pratap Singh Bajwa, BB Patil, Abu Tahar Khan, Kailash Saini, Ramnath Thakur attended the meeting. Those present were asked to express their view informally.

A committee member told ANI, “I am very upset to hear that an important meeting on farmers’ income doubling could not take place up due to lack of quorum. I came to Delhi especially for the committee meeting.”

In his address to the nation on the occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the three farm laws will be repealed in the coming Winter Session of Parliament.

As the government has agreed to withdraw the three farm laws, the farmer unions have shifted their focus on minimum support price (MSP), demanding a law on it.

The farmers are also demanding compensation for the farmers who lost their lives during farmers’ protests and the withdrawal of cases registered against them.

Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh have been protesting at the borders of the national capital since November 26 last year to demand repeal of the three farm laws — Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.