Foodgrains production in 2020-21 is projected to be a record 144.52 million tonnes, which is 0.80 per cent more than the production in 2019-20.
In the early part of 1800, a 30-acre plot next to Fort Gloster on the banks of river Hooghly in Howrah district of Bengal was the nerve centre of industrial activity; it housed India's first steam-powered cotton mill, Bowreah Mills, which was set up by a British merchant and went on to become a hub of factories - a rum distillery, foundry, cotton yarn factory, an oil mill and a paper mill, et al. Spearheaded by Dwarkanath Tagore, the industrialist grandfather of Rabindranath Tagore, the commercial complex was possibly the first of its kind in the country. Close to 200 years later, after much ebb and flow of history, the hub is set for a resurgence of sorts.
The results of the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are also likely to play out during the start of the session.
The farmers lifted blockades on highways at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders and took out a 'Victory March' to celebrate the repeal of three contentious farm laws and the Centre's written assurance to fulfil their other demands, including constituting a committee for legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) for crops.
The government and unions representing farmers, who have been camping at Delhi's border for about three months in protest against the three laws that they see will end state procurement of crops at MSP, have held 11 rounds of talks, the last being on January 22.
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, and Railways and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday held a meeting at the Vigyan Bhawan with a delegation of farmers, including the leaders of several farm organisations holding protests in the national capital against the recent farm laws.
Farmer leaders said unions do not allow any political party to use their stage and accused the government of diverting the issue.
Kharge, who was elected Congress president recently, arrived in Himachal Pradesh Tuesday evening and addressed his first public meeting in Banuti in support of party candidate from the Shimla Rural assembly constituency Vikramaditya Singh.
With the talks between the Centre and the agitating farmer unions stalled since January, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Wednesday expressed readiness to resume the dialogue to resolve their objections to the three new agri laws, but the unions remained adamant on their demands for a repeal of the legislations and a legal guarantee on the minimum support price.
Dominic Xavier offers his take on the breakdown of trust between the Narendra Damodardas Modi government and the farmers.
It is "absolutely clear" that the new laws will finish government mandis (wholesale markets) and private mandis where big corporates will sell and buy will have monopoly, he claimed.
'They will not get more than two seats in Haryana if elections are held now.'
'Had these three farm laws existed it would have become a huge election issue.'
The meeting of the Congress Parliamentary strategy group was held at the residence of party President Sonia Gandhi.
Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad made this assertion outside Parliament while speaking to reporters and said the revocation of suspension of the Opposition Rajya Sabha MPs was not a demand, but a 'request'.
November 26 would mark one year of the ongoing farmers' protests at Delhi's border points of Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur.
Stepping up protest against the Centre's paddy procurement policy, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Monday led a dharna in the national capital organised by his party, and warned the Modi government to respond within 24 hours if it will buy the grain from the state.
The new laws aim at fetching fair price for farmers' produce and give them liberty to sell it wherever they wish, the Union minister further 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'.
Reaching out to politically crucial Kurmi caste population of the Purulia district, Shah promised jobs for their every family and education in their language.
The report admits that converting MSP to a floor price of auction on the eNAM portal will not completely solve the problem as the current data shows that average modal prices in e-NAM mandis is lower than the minimum support price in all commodities except urad.
The Congress leader told reporters that the Punjab government is 'preparing to challenge the Bills in the apex court on two counts'. "First, it is a state subject and the Union government has no right to enact a legislation on it. "Besides, the federal government cannot destroy the economy of states. Due to the Bills, losses will be too much for a small state like Punjab," he said.
The SKM also gave a call for observing a nationwide 'Day of Betrayal' on January 31 against what it called the government's reneging on its assurances to the farmers on their demands, including legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) of crops.
Questioning the relevance of the minimum support price regime in the politically sensitive farm sector, the Economic Survey on Wednesday recommended a broad-based agricultural development programme.
"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.
'We were among the first organisations to voice our opposition to the three Acts long before anyone else and had sent memorandums collected from 3,000 tehsils across the country to the agriculture ministry to amend the Bills, but nothing was accepted,' says BKS general secretary Badri Narayan Chaudhary.
Modi hit out at deleterious influences from abroad, referring to them as 'foreign destructive ideology', as well as a new "breed" of agitators -- 'Andolan-jivi' -- in the country who cannot live without a tumult.
As farmers continue their protests demanding repealing of the three new laws, Kumar also emphasised that continued negotiations with protesting farmers is of course the way forward.
Apart from the second pandemic upsurge in Haryana which devastated its cities and villages, in most districts panchayats stopped inviting BJP-JJP leaders to social gatherings, while a few announced a boycott.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday slammed those calling agitating Sikh farmers names, saying it won't do the country any good as he went on to appeal to the protesting farmers to withdraw their over two-month-long stir and give the new agriculture reform laws a chance.
Addressing a press conference in Chandigarh, the deputy chief minister said, "I believe that many amendments should be there. On this, we have given many suggestions to the Centre earlier and they too were agreeable on many suggestions."
The agitating farmers had earlier said they would picket toll plazas to press their demand for a repeal of the three new laws, which were voted through in Parliament in September amid strong protests by opposition parties.
During the last few meetings, farmer leaders have been arranging their own lunch, snacks and beverages while refusing to have the food organised by the government.
The Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs staged a walkout ahead of the voice vote.
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
Tomar discussed with Singh 'all possible options' to find a 'middle path' to resolve the crisis, sources added. Singh, who served as agriculture minister in the erstwhile Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet, has emerged as a key troubleshooter and is working mostly behind the scenes on this issue.
The minister said that the last meeting held on December 30, 2020, happened in a cordial atmosphere and there is a possibility of positive results in the interest of farmers and of the country's farm sector at the next meeting.
The delegation of 20 'progressive farmers' from Haryana, led by Padma Shri awardee Kanwal Singh Chauhan, said the government may amend some provisions of the laws but should not repeal them.
Rashtriya Loktantrik Party convenor and Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal on Saturday announced a split from the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance over the Centre's new farm laws.
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.
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