Farmers seek MSP ordinance ahead of today's crucial talks

The Union government should bring in an ordinance to legally guarantee minimum support prices (MSP) for crops, the leaders of two farm groups spearheading a new agitation said on Saturday, a day before they are to hold talks with a ministerial delegation for the fourth time over their demands.

The latest appeal came on the fifth day of a stand-off that began when a caravan of thousands of farmers in trucks, tractors and cars set off for the national capital from Punjab before they were stopped from crossing into Haryana, where police concrete, metal and spike barriers earlier last week.

"If the government wants resolution of farmers' protest, then it should bring an ordinance with an immediate effect that it will enact a law on MSP, then discussion can proceed further," said Kisan Mazdoor Sangarh Committee (KMSC) president Sarwan Singh Pandher, according to news agency PTI.

Pandher's KMSC and the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Sidhupur) led by Jagjit Singh Dallewal are the two organisations leading the farmers that have now halted at the Shambhu border between Haryana and Punjab.

On Saturday, a powerful farm group in Haryana too took out a tractor rally across the state, backing the demand by their Punjab counterparts for the MSP to be legally guaranteed across more crops.