Govt agrees on power subsidy, stubble curbs; talks on MSP, repeal to continue

Making headway in talks for the first time since farmers opposed to the new agriculture laws showed up at the gates of Delhi more than a month ago, the Centre Wednesday said there had been “mutual consensus” on two of the four demands raised by the farmer unions. The two sides agreed to meet again on January 4.

The Centre agreed to “decriminalise” stubble burning by excluding farmers from the ambit of the ‘Commission for the Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance 2020’, and drop those provisions of the draft Electricity Amendment Bill, 2020, which are intended to change the existing mode of subsidy payment to consumers.