
NEW DELHI: Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday appointed nodal officers to assess the farmers’ agitation in Punjab and Haryana, work towards easing tensions, and prevent the situation from spreading to other states.
According to reports, the action came after farmers organisations close to the RSS, during the weekly meeting, urged Singh to take measures to prevent the protest from spreading to other states.
A source stated, "There is a need for an official coordination team to oversee farmers affairs across the states."
Currently, the senior officers limit themselves to their respective divisions and interact with state governments. Around 20 senior officials, including Joint Secretaries, Additional Secretaries, advisers, and commissioners have been assigned responsibilities of one or two states each.
"These officers will regularly interact with state officers and address emerging Farmers’ issues through respective schemes," said the source.
Some of the officers assigned the tasks are Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, Additional Secretary, responsible for Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. However, Kidwai is now shifted to the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Another Additional Secretary Maninder Kaur Dwivedi has been assigned the job to look after Gujarat and Odisha.
Muktanad Agarwal, IAS, assigned as nodal officer to look after Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu whereas Samuel P Kumar, joint secretary, is the nodal officer for Assam; Ruchika Gupta, adviser, for Telangana; C F Joseph, adviser, for Kerala. Another Joint Secretary level officer Priya Ranjan appointed as nodal officer for Uttarakhand and Himachal.
Meanwhile, Haryana khap panchayats have decided to back the farmers’ protest in Punjab if all the farmers’ unions come onto one platform after the January 18 meeting and announce a common minimum programme.
“Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, who are leading the protests, and Sanyukta Kisan Morcha need to come together and take on the Centre collectively by announcing a common minimum agenda.
They should sort out their differences in their January 18 meeting. Then our committee of Haryana khap panchayats will meet on January 19 or 20 and decide on supporting the stir,” said Satish Singh, coordinator of an 11-member committee of 102 khap panchayats.
“Khap panchayats will participate in the January 26 tractor march to strengthen the agitation,” Singh added.
Haryana khap panchayats had played a key role in strengthening the farmers’ stir at Delhi borders during 2020-21.
SC to hear plea on Dallewal health, MSP law on January 15
A two-judge bench of the court, led by Justice Surya Kant and Justice N Kotiswar Singh, would hear on Wednesday a plea over Dallewal’s health along with the farmer leader’s plea for a direction to the Centre for implementing a proposal, including a legal guarantee of minimum support price on crops, made to the protesting farmers in 2021 after the farm laws were repealed. Jagjit Singh Dallewal has been on an indefinite fast for over 50 days.
(With inputs from Harpreet Bajwa)