President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday said the country's farm production and procurement increased during 2020-21 crop year despite the pandemic and agricultural exports reached a record level of Rs 3 lakh crore during the same period. In his address to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament at the start of the Budget session, Kovind said the government is focusing on making the country self-sufficient in edible oils besides making special efforts to promote organic farming, natural farming and crop diversification. "My government is working continuously to empower the farmers and the rural economy of the country... I would like to give maximum credit to the small farmers of the country for this consistent success and strengthening of the agriculture sector," he said.
The Uttar Pradesh assembly polls will see a sprinkling of star dust with political parties planning to rope in a bevy of Bollywood personalities to canvass for them.
At least six Congressmen including a party spokesman were injured on Friday as supporters of 'Bundelkhand Adhikar Sena' allegedly indulged in vandalism and heavy brick-batting at the Congress headquarters in Lucknow.
'In the course of my interactions with him, Modi insisted that he does not believe charisma alone can sustain people's trust for long.' 'That is why Modi consistently refers to Mahatma Gandhi to contextualise his politics.' 'He believes in taking his ideas to the masses and getting their acceptance as an index of approval.'
A revealing excerpt from Ajay Singh's The Architect of the New BJP: How Narendra Modi Transformed the Party.
Lodhi, who represented the Bada Malhera assembly seat in Chhatarpur district, joined the BJP at the ruling party's state headquarters in the presence of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Millets can provide nutritional security against deficiencies, especially in children and women, says Sreejith Moolayil, co-founder and COO, True Elements.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday jumped on the bandwagon demanding the creation of smaller states, declaring that carving Harit Pradesh and Bundelkhand from parts of UP was a 'feasible' idea.In the wake of the Centre's decision to create Telangana by dividing Andhra Pradesh, the UP CM said that her party will back the demand for the creation of smaller states."We back the demand for Harit Pradesh. Smaller states can be better administered," she said.
For MP, the SP is open for an alliance with the Congress, but decision in this regard will be taken at the right time, SP sources said.
Stepping up attack on Narendra Modi over his alleged links to Adani Group, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Friday questioned how the business house grew from Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 40,000 crore during Modi's tenure in Gujarat.
Gentle, fiery, magnanimous or disadvantaged, there are many faces of the Bhansali heroine. Sukanya Verma looks at every single one.
Bundelkhand is thought to be an area where Mayawati has some influence. Both Amit Shah and Shivraj Chouhan believe every weapon in the arsenal must be used to ensure victory.
'Akhilesh did politics like Rabi and Kharif crop which come once a year. Politics is not seasonal, you have to harvest your field all through the year and only then you get a good crop' Political analyst lists 12 reasons why Akhilesh Yadav lost the UP elections.
Gandhi, who will be campaigning at a remote area in Tekamgarh in the region, is expected to inspect implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme among other things. The tour by Rahul is being looked at as an attempt by Congress at ascertaining Mayawati's claim to having delivered 'relief' to the region, sources said.
The answers of the candidates are more or less along expected lines, with most of them blaming the government and its policies to placate farmers.
After spending over two years in a Punjab prison, gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari was brought back to Banda jail early on Wednesday morning.
Orchha in Madhya Pradesh is among the many, many places in India where history comes alive. Lakshmi Sharath recollects her recent visit to the former princely state in Bundelkhand.
Holding a 'padyatra' in drought-hit Bundelkhand, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he should think about farmers and labourers too and not just industrialists and give more funds for the backward region.
UP government suspended four staffers and ordered a departmental probe into the incident.
It was conveyed that he would not have a free rein in making bureaucratic postings. Sunil Bansal, handpicked by BJP president Amit Shah to execute his UP blueprint, has made it clear the party's writ would run over the government. But Adityanath has institutionalised a system to keep Bansal out, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
Ratcheting up pressure on farmers' issues, Rahul Gandhi's next stop will be Vidarbha in Maharashtra where he will hold a 15-km 'kisan padyatra' (footmarch) on Thursday as he criss-crosses the country to reach out to the farmers in distress in various states.
Jhansi ki Rani, special economic package and providing opportunities for the backward classes. These were among some of the many points raised by Gujarat Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi during a rally at Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh.
The Samajwadi Party stormed to the power with 224 of the 403 assembly seats.
Firebrand Bharatiya Janata Party leader Umar Bharti maintained on Monday that the party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi does not have the oratorical skills of (former prime minister) Atal Bihar Vajpayee, but said the Gujarat chief minister was a "unique person" who draws massive crowd.
The issue of division of Uttar Pradesh had been lying dormant till now with major political parties including the BSP preferring silence so far.
Gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's brother alleged on Wednesday that inhuman treatment was given to him while being transferred to Banda jail from Punjab, saying it could have been better had he been shot dead at a road crossing.
Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh has alleged that Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh won the last two assembly elections by using money received from Naxalites.
Amidst barbs flying back and forth, Rediff.com's Aslam Hunani lists all that you need to know about the fourth phase of the UP assembly elections, which will take place on February 23.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has long been demanding special category status for his state.
The girl has been caught while the groom is still missing
'It is also being done in violation of our Forest Tribal Act because it will involve the eviction of the tribals living in these forests.'
The united Opposition on Wednesday checkmated yet another promise given by Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi to set up a central agricultural university in the Bundelkhand region, spread across Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
The Hindutva poster boy has lost his sheen following the BJP's poll reverses in Hindi heartland states and his style of governance, reports Virendra Singh Rawat.
Rediff reader Sudhir Kumar, 38 from Kanpur tells us how his father Anup Singh's advice turned his life around.
Ahead of the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party will be organising two separate yatras led by its veteran leaders from October 13 to mobilise voters in the region.
With the 2019 Lok Sabha polls less than eight months away, the party has resumed stoking the emotional issue through its second-and third-rung leaders.
That would be three more seats than what the BJP won in 2014.
In a bid to outsmart rivals ahead of the assembly elections, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Tuesday announced bringing a resolution in the House for carving out four new states in the winter session beginning next week.
Kadvi Hawa has some very bad news for us all.
Blaming non-Congress governments for the prevailing backwardness in Uttar Pradesh, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Friday urged the youth of the state to get into politics to transform the country's most populous state.
What years of education, social messaging and reservations couldn't accomplish, water scarcity did in one summer, says Geetanjali Krishna.
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