Farmer leaders on Sunday appealed to those participating in the Republic Day tractor march to carry enough ration for 24 hours and ensure that the rally remains peaceful.
The family of nine, Mukesh, his parents, wife and five children, the youngest less than a year old, set out from their 'home' under a flyover in Palam in southwest Delhi on the long walk to their village. While he pushed the cycle, the others walked alongside, some holding bags, others unwieldy bundles on their heads, some barefeet as they walked on the hot tarred road under a scorching sun and others wearing flimsy footwear.
The farmers threatened to intensify their agitation and block more roads if the government did not accept their demand.
A group of 200 farmers will travel to Jantar Mantar from the Singhu border in buses with a police escort and hold protests there from 11 am to 5 pm, sources in the Delhi Police said.
However, in some markets of the city meat is anyways not sold on Tuesdays as this day of the week is considered auspicious by many Hindus.
The central government has for the first time allowed a private company, Bajaj Healthcare, to process opium to extract alkaloids used to make pain-killers, cough syrups, and even cancer drugs. Two government factories in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, and Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh, do the work yet, processing some 800 tonnes of opium gum annually to extract alkaloids. The government on Tuesday gave Thane-based Bajaj Healthcare an initial contract to process 500 tonnes of opium gum annually and wants production to be at 800 tonnes per annum (tpa) in the next five years, indicating the state's exit from the highly-regulated sector.
"We are strengthening our communication and other infrastructure to continue the agitation for a long period," said Deep Khatri associated with managing logistics at the Singhu Border protest site.
"Your negotiations with protesting farmers have not worked apparently till now," the bench told the Centre.
The meeting came after a large number of farmers with their tractors broke police barricades and entered central Delhi areas, including Red Fort and ITO.
Delhi Police on Wednesday alleged that farmer leaders made inflammatory speeches and were involved in the violence during the tractor parade by agitating farmers that left 394 of its personnel injured and warned that no culprit will be spared.
'The demands are also the same -- all three 'black' farm laws should be repealed, a new law made to ensure MSP (minimum support price) for crops'
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.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde, which observed that there is no improvement on the ground regarding farmers' protests, was told by the Centre that 'healthy discussions' are going on between the government and farmers over these issues.
The Maharashtra government will amend its agriculture law to protect farmers and Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs) as the three central farm laws are not in the interest of agriculturists, state Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat said.
With bird flu being confirmed in 10 states so far, the Centre on Monday urged state governments, including Delhi, not to shut poultry markets and restrict sales based on 'public perception', asserting that there are no scientific reports of transmission of bird flu to humans.
The announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday to repeal the three contentious farm laws is expected to bring to an end the year-long confrontation between the government and the farmers, which has left more than 700 dead in its wake.
At the Ghazipur border, they huddled close together, only some with masks -- aware of the coronavirus threat that had led to an unprecedented 21-day lockdown of the country and taken away their jobs, but helpless to do anything about combating the infection.
The farmers' union had been camping at the Dalit Prerna Sthal since December 2, demanding withdrawal of the three new farm laws, legalisation of minimum support price (MSP) for crops and implementation of the recommendation of Swaminathan Committee's report.
Group Captain Varun Singh, the lone survivor in the horrifying chopper crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu, was conferred with the Shaurya Chakra in August for averting a possible mid-air accident after his Tejas light combat aircraft suffered a major technical glitch last year.
According to the results announced on Thursday, 25 Samajwadi Party candidates were defeated by less than 5,000 votes while a similar fate awaited three nominees of the Rashtriya Lok Dal.
Sanyukt Kisan Morcha said the move is aimed at further strengthening and expanding the farmers' agitation which began in November last year.
Security was stepped up after farmers threatened to block more highways connecting the national capital.
613 candidates are in the fray on 54 seats, including those falling in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary segment Varanasi.
This crisis requires political sophistication and governance skills. This BJP has neither, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Asserting that the agitation against the Centre's farm laws is a people's movement that will not fail, Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Sunday said there will be no 'ghar wapsi' till protesting farmers' demands are met.
Modi claimed the Janata Dal-Secular-Congress coalition government which came to power in Karnataka recently had waived only 800 farm loans.
In a show of strength in Jind by protesting farmers, Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Wednesday warned the government that it could find it difficult to stay on in power if the new agri-marketing laws are not repealed.
"It was partly in response to Tikait's tears that he decided he also has tears," Tharoor said
'Farmers will block rail tracks in various places. Markets and transport services will be closed during 'Bharat Bandh'
According to them, these marches were a "rehearsal" for their proposed January 26 "Kisan Parade" to the national capital from different parts of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
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.
Thousands of protesting farmers who reached ITO from the Ghazipur border clashed with police. Many of them driving tractors reached the Red Fort and entered the monument.
The agriculture ministry also reiterated it is ready to find a "logical solution" to the issues raised by protesting farmer unions.
The Supreme Court-appointed committee on the new farm laws on Monday said it held consultations with eminent academicians and agri-professionals on the legislations against which farmers have been protesting at Delhi's borders for over two months now.
South Delhi Mayor Mukesh Suryan on Tuesday said there was "no need to open meat shops" during Navratra, claiming that "most people do not consume non-vegetarian food" during this period, even as the move has triggered sharp reactions on social media.
The number of protesters swelled at Delhi border points on Wednesday. Police stepped up security after thousands blocked key gateways into the national capital for the seventh day on the trot, leaving commuters facing a harrowing time.
BJP leaders from a dominant farming community in Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh held separate meetings on Wednesday to chalk up an outreach to members of the Jat community and caste councils (khaps) to counter the narrative against the Centre's three farm laws.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a forum comprising 40 farmer unions, called for a Bharat Bandh on Monday against the Centre's three agriculture laws. Here is its impact across the country:
Several trains were cancelled, highways and key roads blocked and many thousands stranded for hours on Monday as a nationwide 10-hour shutdown against the Centre's three agri laws disrupted lives across parts of India, particularly in the north.
