Nearly eight months after the government repealed the three controversial farm Acts, it has constituted a high-powered panel under the chairmanship of former agriculture secretary Sanjay Agarwal to make the minimum support price (MSP) mechanism more effective and transparent as promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his televised address announcing the repeal. The names of three members from the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), the main grouping that spearheaded the year-long agitation at Delhi's borders, have been withheld, pending receipt by the government, stated a gazette notification. NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand, Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad Professor Sukhpal Singh, Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative chairman Dilip Sanghani, secretaries of the Departments of Agriculture, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Food and Consumer Affairs, Cooperation and Textiles, along with representatives from the state governments of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, and Odisha will also form part of the panel.
The ultras fired on Ghulam Rasool Dar, also the Kulgam district president of the BJP's Kisan Morcha, and his wife in Anantnag town in south Kashmir, a police official said.
A joint forum of central trade unions has given a call for a nationwide strike on March 28 and 29, to protest against government policies affecting workers, farmers, and people. The Joint Platform of central trade unions held a meeting in Delhi on March 22, 2022, to take stock of the preparations in various states and sectors for the proposed two-day all India strike on 28-29 March 2022 against "the anti-worker, anti-farmer, anti-people and anti-national policies" of the central government, a statement said. The statement said that roadways, transport workers and electricity workers have decided to join the strike in spite of the impending threat of ESMA (Haryana and Chandigarh, respectively). Financial sectors, including banking and insurance, are joining the strike, it stated.
The SKM alleged that increased barricading, including digging trenches, fixing nails on roads, setting up barbed-wire fences, closing internal roads, stopping Internet services and "orchestrating protests through BJP-RSS workers" are part of "attacks" being organised by the government, its police and administration against the farmers.
Singh, an executive committee member of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, also called Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut 'manchali (crazy)' for her remarks about the country's independence.
Despite the prime minister's surprise announcement, farmer leaders have maintained the protesters won't budge until the three contentious laws are formally repealed in Parliament.
Agitating farmer groups on Thursday held a four-hour nationwide 'rail roko' agitation with the railways saying there was negligible impact on services though some trains were stopped by officials at stations as a precautionary measure.
In a video apparently of a speech made to his supporters, Mishra dismissed allegations levelled against him.
Farmer leaders said unions do not allow any political party to use their stage and accused the government of diverting the issue.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had earlier admitted that the choice of words by Ayush Sinha, a 2018-batch IAS officer, was wrong but had defended the police action.
The letter by 'Sanyukt Kisan Morcha', which represents farmer bodies mostly from Punjab, comes against the backdrop of the government holding talks with several farmers organisations from different states who the Centre claimed have extended their support to the new agriculture laws.
Farmers said the government should have formed a committee of farmers and others before the laws were enacted by Parliament.
He appealed to farmers to be ready as the call for 'Delhi march' can be given at any time.
Congress leader Manish Tewari demanded that the government should provide Rs 5 crore compensation to the families of the farmers who died during the farm laws agitation
A video clip of Khattar's comments went viral on the social media, with the Opposition alleging that he told the supporters of the BJP to pick up sticks against the protesting farmers.
With farmers on Thursday blocking railway tracks across the country, at stations big and small, protesters at Singhu said it proves that the agitation is not just limited to Punjab and Haryana.
Eleven rounds of talks have been held over the contentious farm laws but the impasse continues as the farmer unions remain firm on their demands -- the repeal of the three laws and legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price.
Farmers protesting the Centre's new agri laws will observe 'Sadbhavna Diwas' on Mahatma Gandhi's death anniversary on January 30 and hold a day-long fast, farm leaders said on Friday, and asserted that their agitation will gain strength as farmers in large numbers will join them in the days ahead.
'The Modi government must tell us what this person's connection with the BJP is.'
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Varun Gandhi on Sunday described farmers, who have been protesting against three farm laws, as 'our own flesh and blood' and suggested that the government should re-engage with them in reaching common ground.
As a precautionary measure and to avoid any turbulence in law and order situation, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has decided to keep three Metro stations -- Vishwavidyalaya, Civil Lines and Vidhan Sabha -- shut from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm on Saturday.
A large number of farmers on Tuesday squatted at the gates of the district headquarters in Karnal, locked in a showdown with Haryana's Bharatiya Janata Party-led government over a police lathi-charge last month.
'If banging thalis could drive corona as Modi said, banging thalis will drive away the farm laws.'
The Centre on Friday said that no farmer died due to police action during the year-long protests by farmers.
Union minister of state (MoS) for home affairs Ajay Mishra Teni's son Ashish Mishra, who has been accused in Lakhimpur Kheri incident, has been sent to three-day police remand with conditions on Monday.
Khattar had made the remark at a BJP Kisan Morcha meet, a video of which had surfaced on social media, with farmers bodies alleging that he was telling party supporters to "pick up sticks" against farmers protesting the Centre's agriculture laws.
Hours after the macabre crime, a man wearing the blue robes of the Sikhs' Nihang order appeared before the media, claiming that he had 'punished' the victim for 'desecrating' a holy book.
Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of farmer unions, has organised protests in different states on Friday to mark the first anniversary of the farmers' movement against three central farm laws.
Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait claimed that the crops are not procured by the government as per the MSP.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of the farmer unions protesting the three farm laws, said emergency and essential services such as ambulance and school bus will not be stopped during the 'chakka jam' that is proposed to be held between 12 pm and 3 pm.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer North) Bijendra Kumar Yadav said farmers have formally declared that they will start returning home from Saturday onwards, but it is not a time bound exercise as their movement will keep progressing through the day.
The new party -- Bharatiya Aarthik Party -- claims to represent farmers, traders and labourers,
'We don't trust the prime minister's words on repealing the laws because he had promised us that he will implement the Swaminathan Commission report, but he never did.'
A Bharatiya Janata Party MLA in Punjab was allegedly thrashed and his clothes torn by a group of farmers at Malout in Muktsar district on Saturday, police said.
In a statement, the SKM, an umbrella body of 40 farmers' unions, said the struggle will continue to get all demands of the protesting farmers fulfilled and all announced plans are underway.
Tikait also said if the government continues to dismantle the resources, one day India will be known as 'Mazdoor colony' and only labour class (will be left) in the country.
The unions said the minimum support price (MSP) cannot be separated from the demand of repealing the contentious agriculture laws, asserting that the issue of a legal guarantee for the MSP is a key part of their agitation.
In a statement, the SKM alleged that the government had not fulfilled any of the promises, including setting up a committee on minimum support price and withdrawal of cases against protesters, made to the farmers.
Farmers have taken down their settlements and have vacated the borders around Delhi, which were their protesting sites for the last one year.
The sixth round of talks between the two sides are being held after a considerable gap. The fifth round of talks was held on December 5.
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