Enthused by higher than expected GDP numbers in the fourth quarter of 2022-23, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran on Wednesday said India's economic growth may exceed the initial estimate of 6.5 per cent in the current fiscal and the country can look for another year of solid economic performance.
Two days after resigning from the Gujarat legislative assembly as a Congress legislator, Patidar community leader Harshad Ribadiya on Thursday joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Gandhinagar.
India has put curbs on wheat exports through the government route, starting November last year. This comes amid a surge in domestic prices of the cereal. In December, India exported 391 tonnes of wheat to Bangladesh and Bhutan. In November 2022, it had exported 375 tonnes of wheat only to Bhutan.
The farmer leaders claimed that they had caught the man from the protest site at the Singhu border.
'Farmers must get Maximum Support Price instead of Minimum Support Price.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not present at the all-party meeting convened by the government.
If the corruption issue doesn't claim Mr Baghel, the Congress's chances in the assembly election later this year are good, observes Aditi Phadnis.
Deol on Sunday evening issued a statement on his Twitter handle in Hindi, saying the matter is between the farmers and government, but there are people who are trying to gain something out of the agitation.
In her first address to the joint sitting of Parliament as the Budget session began, she said 'Amrit Kaal', described by the government as the 25-year period culminating in the centenary of India's independence, is the time to build an India which is 'aatmanirbhar' (self reliant) and also fulfils its humanitarian obligations.
He further stated that other details regarding the same will be disclosed after a meeting scheduled to take place on November 26, which marks the first anniversary of the farmers' protest against the three farm laws, the repeal of which was recently announced by the Centre earlier this month.
The IMF believes the farm laws passed by the Indian government have the potential to represent a significant step forward for agricultural reforms, but a social safety net is needed to protect those who might be adversely impacted during the transition to the new system, a spokesperson of the global lender said in Washington.
V Singh said that "actual farmers are very happy with what has been done in last six months."
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday promised 10-year punishment and Rs 1 lakh fine for those indulging in love jihad if it returns to power in Uttar Pradesh.
The move comes after the Punjab assembly earlier this month adopted a resolution against the farm laws and unanimously passed four bills to counter the Centre's contentious legislations.
"The Union cabinet is likely to take up on Wednesday, November 24 the withdrawal of the three farm laws for approval. The bills for withdrawal of the laws shall then be introduced in the forthcoming Parliament session," sources in the government told ANI.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had recently backed the agitating farmers in India, saying his country will always be there to defend the rights of peaceful protests. He had expressed concern over the situation.
Daulatpuria, who had joined the party ahead of 2019 assembly polls after switching over from Indian National Lok Dal, announced his decision at a Panchayat held at his village Daulatpur. Talking to reporters later, he said the three agriculture laws "are anti-farmer which should be repealed immediately".
Sluggish rural demand along with higher inflation is set to mute revenue growth of the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector at 7-9 per cent this fiscal and the next compared to 8.5 per cent in the previous fiscal, a report said. Almost 40 per cent of the Rs 4.7-lakh-crore sector come from the hinterland markets, which have been hit by high inflation, low wages and high job losses since the Covid pandemic. Revenue growth of the FMCG sector will be muted at 7-9 per cent this fiscal and the next compared to 8.5 per cent in the last, while volume growth will be just about 1-2 per cent, down from 2.5 per cent last fiscal, Crisil said in a report on Monday.
Elections may be a few months away, but the government may get into election mode much earlier than that, predicts A K Bhattacharya.
Farmers will observe June 5 as 'Sampoorna Kranti Divas' by burning copies of the central farm laws in front of the offices of BJP MPs and MLAs to mark the day when these legislations were initially promulgated as ordinances last year, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha said.
The committee, headed by former agriculture secretary Sanjay Agrawal, discussed ways to "promote zero budget based farming", to "change" crop patterns keeping in mind the changing needs of the country, and to make MSP more "effective and transparent".
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha has suspended its November 29 tractor march to Parliament and it will hold a meeting next month to decide its future course of action, farmer leaders said on Saturday.
The opposition would push for the passage of the two bills -- the farmers' freedom from indebtedness bill and the farmers' right to guaranteed remunerative minimum support prices for agriculture commodities bill -- in the Rajya Sabha
Despite heavy security deployment, groups of farmers from Punjab managed to reach near two Delhi border points on Friday morning after breaking police barricades in Haryana.
After his visit to Gohana to attend a public rally on Sunday was cancelled due to bad weather, Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed the gathering briefly over phone and exuded confidence that 'lotus will bloom' on all Lok Sabha seats in the state in 2024 elections.
Tomar said, "The prime minister had brought the three Bills that were passed by the Parliament. They would have benefitted farmers. PM's clear intention was to bring revolutionary changes in the lives of farmers. But I am pained that we failed to explain benefits to some farmers of the nation."
The Congress on Friday promised that if the party is voted to power in Gujarat, where assembly elections are due by the yearend, it would waive farm loans of up to Rs 3 lakh and provide free electricity for 10 hours daily to farmers in the state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the government is committed towards procurement of agri crops at minimum support price (MSP) and termed it as an important part of the country's food security. He further said that efforts are being made to improve mandi infrastructure so that MSP buying continues in a scientific way.
'Since September 1, a senior cabinet minister has been to-ing and fro-ing between Jalna and Mumbai by chartered flight every single day with messages from the two deputy chief ministers and the chief minister to get Manoj Jarange-Patil to back down from his agitation.'
Farmers said the agenda of the meeting should also include amendments to be made and notified in the Commission for the Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance, 2020 to exclude farmers from its penal provisions.
In a letter to 40 union leaders, Union Agriculture Ministry Joint Secretary Vivek Aggarwal said the Centre is making all efforts with "an open heart" to find an appropriate solution to resolve all the concerns raised by farmers.
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is setting up a greenfield tractor plant in Mohali near Punjab. Fueled by a strong domestic demand, the expansion is the first in a decade by the world's largest tractor maker. In 2012, the company had set up a facility at Zaheerabad in Telangana.
Some leaders also threatened that they will boycott the scheduled sixth round of talks with the government on Wednesday at Vigyan Bhawan, while others said their next course of action will depend on what amendments the government assures in writing, which they claimed was promised by Shah in Tuesday's meeting.
India has called the remarks by foreign leaders and organisations on protests by farmers as "ill-informed" and "unwarranted", asserting that the matter pertains to the internal affairs of a democratic country.
In the coming few weeks, agriculture markets in North and Central India will be full of wheat, mustard, and chana - the three main rabi crops grown in these parts. Not only will the price trajectory of these determine the course of food inflation in the months to come, but it could also have a wider impact on the rural economy in the main growing states for these crops. Wheat and chana are largely grown in Madhya Pradesh (MP).
Economist Abhijit Sen, a former Planning Commission member and one of the country's foremost experts on rural economy, died on Monday night. He was 72.
Ahead of the Winter Session in Parliament, leaders of 11 opposition parties met in the chamber of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.
The government is committed to taking all initiatives needed for the development of the agriculture sector and farmers' welfare, he said.
These "kisan mahapanchayat" are scheduled to be held in Haryana's Karnal, Rohtak, Sirsa and Hisar districts, and Maharashtra's Akola and Rajasthan's Sikar, he said.
The letter by Singh, who is camping at the Dalit Prerna Sthal in Noida along with his faction members since December 2, came as protestors marked the birth anniversary of former prime minister and farmers' leader Chaudhary Charan Singh.