Farmers’ groups, led by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, will hold a third round of negotiations with Union ministers on Thursday, to press the Centre to accept their demands.

This comes amid protests by thousand of farmers at the Punjab-Haryana border, at Shambhu.

A look at the top developments from the farmers’ protest:

  1. Leaders of the farmers’ groups will meet Union Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Arjun Munda, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai, in Chandigarh at 5 pm on Thursday. This will be the third round of talks to press the Centre to accept the farmers’ 21-point demand charter, which primarily seeks a law guaranteeing a minimum support price for agricultural commodities and the implementation of the MS Swaminathan Commission Report’s wider recommendations on farming in India.
  2. The leaders have said that they will not attempt to continue their march towards Delhi till the third round of talks conclude, PTI reported. Their course of action will be decided on the basis of the outcome of the meeting with the Union ministers.
  3. Farmers’ groups Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) and the Bharatiya Kisan Union Dakaunda (Dhaner) called supporters to block trains for four hours at 15 locations across Punjab including Mansa, Barnala and Rajpura, reported The Indian Express. Two trains were cancelled in Haryana’s Ambala division while six trains were diverted and two trains will not continue to their original destination, the Ambala railway division’s Senior Divisional Commercial Manager Naveen Kumar told The Times of India.
  4. The protestors have also called for roads in Punjab to be made toll-free for three hours during the day to protest the police’s baton charge on farmers, The Times of India reported.
  5. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday said that people are fed-up with the disruptions caused by the protestors and asked farmers in Punjab to resolve the issue by talking to the Centre, reported The Indian Express. “Creating scary picture in the name of protest, do they think that people will get away from [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi ji,” he told the newspaper. “They are mistaken. Today, people are getting fed up with such disruptions caused by them.”
  6. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, along with central trade unions, have called for a nationwide industrial and rural strike on Friday.

Also read: Why farmers from Punjab and Haryana are marching to Delhi again