Editor’s Pick: On farm laws, govt pins hopes on SC

(The Editor's Pick is a new newsletter from The Hindu that provides a snapshot of the most important stories from today's edition of our newspaper, along with a note from our top editors on why we chose to give prominence to these stories.)

A repeated news headline over the last few weeks, to the point of a groundhog day situation, is the Centre inviting farmers groups for another round of talks, and the latter sticking to their demands, as no major breakthrough seems possible.

Yesterday saw the eighth round of these talks, with raised voices and increased tensions, but little else by way of resolution. The ninth round of talks will now be held on January 15, after the Supreme Court’s next hearing on the farmers protest issue, which is likely to be held on January 11.

This is where the Centre now appears to be changing tack, placing the ball with the top court. According to farmers' union leaders, the Centre has told them that the issue of their objections to three new farm laws is best resolved by the Supreme Court, asking the farmers to appear at the next hearing and suggesting that it would request daily hearings for speedy resolution of the case. Though he would not confirm this, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar nonetheless emphasised that the government is committed to following the apex court's direction.

"In our democracy, it is Parliament which makes the laws. But the Supreme Court has every right to examine it," he told journalists after the meeting. "Whatever decision the court gives, the government is committed to following it," he added. For their part, farmer leaders said that policy issues should not be decided by the court, which is only examining the constitutional validity of the laws. "It's a sad day for democracy when an elected government in the middle of talks takes resort to the Supreme Court and says that we should fall back on the Court," said Mahila Kisan Adhikaar Manch leader Kavitha Kuruganti. “This is a matter of the livelihoods of millions of farmers. It is a policy decision which should be taken in consultation with farmers.”

Last month, the Supreme Court, while noting that the Centre’s talks with farmer groups did not appear to be yielding results, had said it would form a committee comprising representatives of the Centre and farmers organisations to try and resolve the impasse and take up all the petitions pertaining to the new farm laws together. The court had, in fact, planned to take up the petitions yesterday (January 8) but was asked to wait by Attorney General K K Venugopal who said there were still chances of the parties coming to an understanding through the talks. Looking ahead, the hearings on Monday will represent a crucial juncture in this ongoing tussle. That makes this story the top pick of the day.

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