NEW DELHI: The government and farm unions reached some common ground on Wednesday to resolve protesting farmers' concerns over rise in power tariff and penalties for stubble burning, but the two sides remained deadlocked over the main contentious issues of the repeal of three farm laws and a legal guarantee for MSP.
Centre, however, offered to set up a committee on better implementation of MSP procurement system.
After nearly five hours of the sixth round of negotiations between three union ministers and a 41-member representative group of thousands farmers protesting on Delhi borders, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said at least 50 per cent resolution has been reached with mutual agreement on two out of four items on the agenda and discussions would continue on the remaining two on January 4.
"Discussions on the three farm laws and MSP are continuing and will continue in the next round of talks on January 4," Tomar told reporters after the meeting ended.
Tomar was accompanied by Food and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Parkash at the meeting.
The meeting between three union ministers and a 41-member representative group of thousands of farmers protesting against three farm laws on borders of the national capital saw the two sides breaking the bread, but not the ice.
While the ministers joined the farmer leaders to share their langar (community kitchen) food during the lunch break, the union representatives accepted the beverage offered by the government during the evening tea break.
The government hoped it would be a decisive meeting and the protesting farmers would return from Delhi borders to their respective homes to celebrate the New Year, but farmer leaders insisted they are prepared to continue their agitation till the government agrees to their demands, including repeal of the laws.
Punjab Kisan Union state president Ruldu Singh Mansa said the government was not agreeing to give legal backing for the MSP procurement and has rather offered to set up a committee on options for proper implementation of MSP, but the proposal did not find much favour with the unions.
He further said the government has offered to withdraw the electricity amendment bill and to amend the ordinance to remove the penal provision on farmers in stubble burning cases.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait also said the government has agreed not to implement the proposed electricity amendment bill and also the ordinance relating to air pollution due to stubble burning.
Farmer leaders said that the talks were continuing and they were going 'agenda wise'.
During the last few meetings, farmer leaders have been arranging their own lunch, snacks and beverages while refusing to have the food organised by the government.
At one such meeting, farmer leaders had even invited the ministers to langar at their protest site on Singhu border.
While talks resumed after the lunch break, some leaders said not much headway was made in the first session, sources said.
The two sides took another tea break in the evening, during which the union leaders accepted the tea organised by the government.
Farmer leaders also offered 'ardaas' (prayers) at the meeting venue after the tea break, before resuming the talks.
Before the meeting, Parkash, himself an MP from Punjab, said he was hopeful that it would be a decisive meeting and the government wanted the protesting farmers to return to their respective homes to celebrate the new year.
Previously, Tomar had also said he was hopeful that a solution would emerge before the year 2020 ends.
Some union leaders, however, said that farmers in some parts of the country are being forced to sell crops including paddy below the Minimum Support Price as market rates have fallen and asserted that the agitation will continue till the government agrees to their demands.
"After new farm laws were implemented in Uttar Pradesh, prices of crops have fallen by 50 per cent.
Crops are being bought at below MSP. Paddy is being sold at Rs 800 per quintal. We will raise these issues in the meeting," Tikait told reporters before entering the meeting venue.
"We will not leave Delhi till our demands are met. We will celebrate New year at borders" he said.
Punjab farmer leader Baldev Singh Sirsa came for the meeting carrying placards of media reports of fraudulent cases reported in Guna and Hosangabad after implementation of the new laws.
"We don't have any new agenda. The government is maligning us by saying farmers are not coming for talks. So we gave December 29 date for talks.
"We have given them our clear agenda but the government is insisting that laws are beneficial for farmers," Sirsa said.
Showing media reports, he said more fraudulent cases are being reported after the implementation of the new laws and these issues will be raised in the meeting.
The sixth round of talks between the two sides is being held after a huge gap.
The fifth round of talks was held on December 5.
The protesting farmer unions are sticking to their position that the discussions will only be on the modalities of repealing the three new agri laws and giving a legal guarantee on the MSP among other issues.
On Monday, the Centre invited the unions for the next round of talks on December 30 on all relevant issues to find a "logical solution" with an "open mind" to the prolonged impasse.
But in its letter on Tuesday, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the umbrella organisation of farmer unions, said the modalities for repealing the three contentious laws and a legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) must be part of the agenda.
The sixth round of talks was originally scheduled for December 9 but it was called off after an informal meeting of Home Minister Shah with some union leaders failed to reach any breakthrough.
The government had, however, followed up Shah's meeting with a draft proposal sent to these farmer unions in which it had suggested 7-8 amendments to the new laws and written assurance on the MSP procurement system.
The government has ruled out a repeal of the three agri laws.
Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, are protesting at various borders of the national capital for more than a month against these three new laws.
The government has presented these laws as major agriculture reforms aimed at helping farmers and increasing their income, but the protesting unions fear that the new legislations have left them at the mercy of big corporates by weakening the MSP and mandi systems.