Commercial establishments and local transport were operating as usual in Mumbai on Monday and the city police also did not deploy an extra security force at key junctions and roads in the wake of the Bharat Bandh called by farmer unions against the Centre's three agri laws, officials said. Pic/Shadab Khan
According to a police official, no additional security force was deployed in the city as of now, but a decision on deployment of extra police personnel may be taken later depending on the situation and programmes of political parties. Pic/Shadab Khan
The government and farmer unions have held 11 rounds of talks so far, the last being on January 22, to break the deadlock and end the farmers' protest. Pic/Shadab Khan
Talks have not resumed following widespread violence during a tractor rally by protesting farmers in Delhi on January 26. Pic/Shadab Khan
The three laws -- The Farmers'' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020 -- were passed by Parliament in September last year. Pic/Shadab Khan
Farmer groups have alleged that these laws will end the ''mandi'' and the MSP (minimum support price) procurement systems and leave cultivators at the mercy of big corporates. The government, however, has rejected these apprehensions as misplaced and asserted that these steps will help increase farmers'' income. Pic/Shadab Khan
Left parties activists being detained by Mumbai police during 'Bharat Bandh' against central government's agricultural reform laws. Pic/Shadab Khan
Mumbai police detain protesters during Bharat Bandh at Sion Circle in Mumbai. Pic/Shadab Khan
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