Worried about the adverse impact that price rise could cause to Congress' prospects in Lok Sabha polls, Rahul Gandhi unveiled quick fix policy prescriptions for 12 party-ruled states including reform in PDS and giving farmers a wider choice to sell vegetables and fruits.
Another bill related to the farm sector, the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, was passed on Tuesday.
Winning an election may be a breeze for the BJP but the aftermath of victory isn't always painless.
'Rather than cutting and pasting from advanced economies, we should use basic economic principles to think about what is right for India at the stage of development at which we are,' says Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian.
'Government is saying that I will not be responsible for ensuring you get MSP but traders and large corporate will be responsible. 'India now is the only country that is saying such things'
'Four years into his tenure and Modi still has no idea what is wrong with the agriculture sector!'
With almost all opposition parties too backing the 'Bharat bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure peace is maintained.
Let the implementation of reforms be left to the discretion of individual states and ensure an end to the illogical stir, argues Virendra Kapoor.
The new bill will now be introduced in the Lok Sabha for passage in the upcoming Winter session of Parliament beginning November 29.
Union leaders, who came out of the meeting venue shouting slogans, said the talks remained deadlocked and some of them threatened to boycott any further meetings if no solution was found at Thursday's meeting.
Where do the four members of the Supreme Court appointed panel to interface with farmers stand on the Modi government's farm laws?
Significantly, about half of the CEOs who took part in the survey indicated that they propose to increase their investments in near future, 45 per cent cited no change in investment levels, while only 5 per cent expected a fall.
The remarks of the apex court, which also said there is a 'peculiar lack of comprehension' about constitution of a panel, assumes importance as some of the members of the recently constituted committee to resolve the deadlock between farmers and the centre over the farm laws had earlier reportedly expressed their views on the subject.
The high-level panel also asked the government to work towards re-orienting subsidies in a targeted manner from the crop sector to the non-crop sector and redesign the electronic National Agriculture Market.
'Why did government not include a provision in the bills which categorically stated that no crop will be sold below the MSP in the open market?'
The development came a day after the protesting farmers rejected the Centre's offer to start talks as soon as they move to Burari and continued to stay put Singhu and Tikri borders of the national capital.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde will hear the application on January 18 along with pleas raising the issue of farmers protesting at Delhi borders.
The agriculture minister said the government's constant efforts are aimed at making farmers prosperous by increasing their income.
With almost all opposition parties and several trade unions backing the 'Bharat Bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing all the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure COVID guidelines are followed.
'To bring about a paradigm shift in farmers's income, we need to change our approach to agriculture, and transit from the narrow prism of cultivation to a full-fledged enterprise, by building all associated supply chain linkages.' 'This alone will make the farmer an entrepreneur in his own right.'
The Bhartiya Kisan Union Lokshakti said the principle of natural justice is going to be violated as those appointed to the four-member committee 'have already supported these laws'.
Prime Minister Modi has certainly pulled back, and his political capital -- dependent as it is on an image that he knows best and never retreats -- may have taken a bit of a beating. But, equally, it is hard to say that the protesters have 'won', argues Mihir S Sharma.
Pawar will be accompanied by Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury, Communist Party of India leader D Raja and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP T R Baalu.
Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, are protesting at various borders of the national capital for more than a month against the laws and are demanding that these be repealed.
Addressing a press conference at Singhu Border in New Delhi, farmer leader Balbeer Singh Rajewal said that farmers never demanded the Supreme Court form a committee to resolve the impasse, alleging the central government was behind this development.
"The question of entering into Delhi is a law and order matter and will be determined by the police," the bench said.
Barring stray incidents of violence like stone pelting, the shutdown called by the MVA allies Shiv Sena, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party was largely peaceful.
The Bharatiya Kisan Union leader, who has held a series of 'kisan mahapanchayats' in Haryana this month, also warned that the government could find it difficult to stay in power if the new agri-marketing laws are not repealed.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has called a meeting of chief ministers of party-ruled states to chalk out the party's strategy in the run-up to the general election. The leaders would focus on setting up of Lokayuktas in a time-bound manner in states and curbing food inflation.
The two bills -- Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 -- were passed by Lok Sabha on Thursday.
Farmer leaders on Saturday said the protesting unions stand firm on their demand of a complete repeal of the three agri laws and asserted that they are ready for talks with the government, but that should be held without any condition.
One lakh copies of the three agri laws were burnt at the Singhu border alone, said Paramjeet Singh of Samyukta Kisan Morcha.
Sharad Pawar reckons that the NCP has value as a united, going concern, not as a gaggle of leaders in search of followers, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
'They wil show the whole world see how this government is treating its farmers.'
>The protesters should entrust the final judgement on the farm reform laws to the Supreme Court-mandated committee of experts and return to their villages, argues Virendra Kapoor.
'We will resist it.' 'Farmers will not let that happen.'
'I will be happy if walls are built between India and China!' 'We are going to nooks and corners of the country to make ordinary people realise the need to buy Indian goods so that our workers get jobs.'
Countering the opposition claim that farmers across the country are agitated over the three new laws, he said that those in just one state are being misinformed and instigated.
Farmers started the tractor march around 11 am and moved towards Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway amid heavy deployment of Delhi Police and Haryana Police personnel.
Thousands of farmers have reached the national capital on their tractor-trolleys and other vehicles, responding to the 'Delhi Chalo' call against the agri-marketing laws enacted at the Centre in September. On Saturday morning, it wasn't clear if they will agree to move to the Burari ground on the outskirts of the city, where police said they can continue with their protest. Many protesters were demanding a better venue in the centre of Delhi. Originally, the protest was meant to be on November 26 and 27.
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