MODI HOLDS MEETING WITH MINISTERS BEFORE TALKS WITH INDIAN FARMERS

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting of top ministers as part of efforts to break an impasse with protesting farmers, tens of thousands of whom have been parked at entry points to the capital for over a week.

The meeting came hours ahead of a fresh round of talks between the government and farmers' leaders in New Delhi to break an impasse over laws passed in September to deregulate the marketing and storage of farm produce, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

Related Story: "Protesters Besiege New Delhi, Demand Repeal Anti-Farmer Laws"

The protesting farmers are demanding a rollback of the three laws they say will impact their income, benefit big corporations and dismantle a procurement system that guarantees them minimum prices for their produce and protects them from market vagaries. India's government says the laws will increase farm productivity and free farmers from the clutches of middlemen. This is the biggest farmers' protest India has seen in years. More and more farmers continue to arrive at Delhi's borders where the police have set up barricades.

The government has held two rounds of talks with farmers' leaders mostly from the northern state of Punjab, to try and break the deadlock. "We are hopeful of a positive outcome," federal Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said in an interview with CNN-News18 television channel ahead of Saturday's talks. Tomar, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal were at the meeting at the prime minister's residence.