Jannayak Janta Party leader Digvijay Singh Chautala on Friday called farmer leader Rakesh Tikait a 'true patriot' and said he has always talked about farmers' interests.
Prem Murti Pandey bought 25 tonnes of onions, load them onto a truck and hit the road.
Sonia hit out at the BJP, saying the ruling party's "divisive agenda" has become a regular feature of political discourse in all states and that history is being "mischievously distorted" to add fuel to its agenda.
The detection of the COVID-19 case from the premises of the President's Estate prompted Rashtrapati Bhavan to issue a statement in which they clarified that 'no employee of the President's secretariat has tested positive for COVID-19 and the secretariat along with the local administration is taking all the preventive measures required under the government guidelines'.
"A full repeal of three central farm laws and enacting legislation for remunerative minimum support price for all farmers were reiterated as the pending demands of the movement," said the release signed by Krantikari Kisan Union leader Darshan Pal.
The Centre will utilise huge network of post offices across the country to sell subsidised pulses, mainly tur, urad and chana, to ensure availability in the ongoing festival season.
Opposition parties have alleged that the two agriculture Bills will undermine the safety net provided to the farmers by the MSP system and will lead to their exploitation by big companies.
Termed 'Unlock 1', the Centre on Saturday issued fresh guidelines relaxing the nationwide lockdown, the fourth phase of which ends on May 31.
The government's ninth round of negotiations with protesting farmer unions will take place as scheduled on Friday and the Centre is hopeful of positive discussions, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Thursday.
His appeal came when certain organisations of the neighbouring Barak Valley region of Assam observed a 12-hour bandh on Wednesday and have been staging an economic blockade on the National Highway-306 that connects Mizoram with the rest of the country since July 26, disrupting transportation of goods to the state.
'There are 80 million tonnes of foodgrain in our godowns and yet, 200 million people go to bed hungry.' 'So I decided to fight hunger.'
'If our demands aren't met, then, we will hold tractor march on January 6 and also on January 26'
A look at the key decisions taken by the Narendra Modi government in its six months.
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.
Families of farmers along with fellow villagers at many places in Punjab, which had once remained the epicentre of the farmers' agitation, will prepare 'ladoos', 'jalebis', 'barfi' and other sweets to welcome them, farmer leaders said.
Before bidding farewell to Singhu, some farmers performed havans and sang kirtans, and some danced to bhangra songs to mark the day as 'Vijay Diwas'.
'To summarise, PM Modi's failures in the last nine years can be categorised under 'durniti' (bad policies), 'anyay' (injustice) and - perhaps most importantly - 'badniyat' (ill intention)'
Farmers' protest against the three farm laws passed by the Centre has entered its 23rd day on Friday. "We are preparing ourselves for a longer stay as our fight against black laws will continue. It's getting colder, so we're putting more tents," said a protester.
'Everything here is 'sewa'. We saw so many children from neighbouring slums roaming around for food, and thought why not also help them keep engaged in a constructive way'
Tomar also indicated that the government will not repeal the laws.
Kharge launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the Himachal Pradesh poll schedule was announced but not of Gujarat so that the PM can inaugurate many more bridges like the one that collapsed in Gujarat's Morbi.
"No meeting will be held between farmers and the government tomorrow. The minister has said that a proposal will be given to the farmer leaders tomorrow (December 9). Farmer leaders will hold a meeting over government's proposal," Mollah had told the media on Tuesday.
Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) K V Subramanian on Tuesday exuded confidence that India would achieve double-digit growth in the current financial year on the back of policy initiatives and continuing reforms. He also said the country is well poised to meet the fiscal deficit target of 6.8 per cent of GDP. "At this stage, I can say confidently that we should be able to achieve that fiscal deficit number. "Any shortfalls that might happen on the disinvestment side will also be accompanied by positive surprises that have happened on tax revenue," he told reporters.
The representatives of thousands of agitating farmers, who are sitting on various borders of the national capital since November 26 demanding repeal of the three agri laws, have said that the countrywide strike on Tuesday would be observed with full force.
The farmers threatened to intensify their agitation and block more roads if the government did not accept their demand.
Stating that Trinamool Congress was in the central government when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister, Mamata said without naming the Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate that Gujarat had witnessed riots and the people did not support riots.
The government's predicament is a result of its own doing: That of not ensuring adequate buy-in by the stakeholders before passage of the laws, notes Vivek Gumaste.
Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian said China imports a lot of components, parts, assembles and integrates and then exports them.
Samples of Mother Dairy milk last week were found to be contaminated.
Shetkari Sanghatana president Anil J Ghanwat said the panel's report was in 'favour of farmers' and will decide next week on releasing the report in the public domain.
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sales continued to be lower in June compared to May with urban sales witnessing a steeper decline than rural. Sales of goods from shampoos to biscuits stayed lower due to inflationary pressures on commodities. This pushed consumer companies to continue taking price hikes, thus impacting demand, according to data by Bizom.
While seven of the suspended MPs belonged to the TMC, six were from the DMK, three from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, two from the Communist Party of India-Marxist and one from the Communist Party of India.
Though authorities and NGOs have made arrangements for their food, most of them want to go back to their native places to escape the hardship brought by the sweeping curbs.
The MHA on Friday, while extending the lockdown for two more weeks till May 17, lifted many restrictions in green and orange zones. There are no restrictions on sale of non-essential items by e-commerce platforms in green and orange zones, a home ministry spokesperson said, adding barber shops and salons are also allowed to open in these areas.
A local court in Tuticorin has granted conditional bail to all the 35 crew members of a US ship, arrested on charges of illegally carrying weapons on board the vessel and straying into Indian waters.
Pune cops denied Asaduddin Owaisi permission to carry rally in Pune
Shops selling essentials including vegetables functioned from morning till 2 pm and private vehicles and autos, taxis were off the roads.
After the affected students staged a dharna and submitted a memorandum in this regard, authorities said the issue has been resolved and food is being supplied from last night.
At least 10 persons, including four cops, were injured when police resorted to lathicharge on Tuesday to chase away a mob protesting alleged diversion of kerosene meant for relief at Chikiti in Odisha's cyclone-hit Ganjam district.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the Indian Air Force choppers and aircraft and the two navy ships are placed in close proximity to the eastern coastline and would be deployed for rescue and relief operations.
