>The farmers will go home but the country will not get the agricultural reform it badly needs -- if nothing else, then to prevent a bigger water crisis than already exists, argues T N Ninan.
The slogan-shouting AAP members stormed into the Well of the House just as the Rajya Sabha took up a discussion on a motion thanking the President for his address to the joint sitting of Parliament.
Major mosques and idghas, which see tens of thousands of people offering namaz on Eid and then embracing each other, remained mostly empty perhaps for the first time on the festival as the government has prohibited all kinds of religious gatherings to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The Bhopal MP was pulled up and asked to refrain from making statements that go against the party's programmes and ideology
Farmer leader Kanwalpreet Singh Pannu said that thousands of farmers will start their 'Delhi Chalo' march from Rajasthan's Shahjahanpur through the Jaipur-Delhi Highway at 11 am on Sunday.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged the Centre to provide medical oxygen to Delhi.
'Such actions are forbidden in the army.'
With Pawar backing farmers' protest against the contentious agri reforms, government sources on Sunday pointed out that as the agriculture minister in the UPA dispensation he had asked chief ministers to amend the APMC Act in their states to allow the private sector to play an important role in the field.
Noting that the situation on the ground was "very difficult", the Congress leader said it was high time the prime minister announced a relief package for the poor and a financial stimulus for the economy.
Foot-tapping music and soulful classical renditions reverberated at Vijay Chowk on Wednesday as the Republic Day celebrations culminated with the Beating Retreat ceremony in New Delhi.
Sitharaman also said different departments of the government are working to provide relief to industry, which could be severely impacted by the fast-spreading virus.
A group of public health experts, including doctors from All India Institute of Medical Sciences and members from the national taskforce on COVID-19, have said that mass, indiscriminate and incomplete vaccination can trigger emergence of mutant strains and recommended that there is no need to inoculate those who had documented coronavirus infection.
The Congress protested vociferously both inside and outside Parliament on Monday against the political developments in Maharashtra as it stalled proceedings and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of "murdering democracy" in the state.
"People say I was a silent prime minister, but I think these volumes (his book 'Changing India') speak for themselves. I was not the prime minister who was afraid of talking to the press. I met the press regularly. In every foreign tour, I had press conferences in the plane or after landing," Manmohan Singh noted.
Strains in relations between the SAD and the BJP had begun surfacing for over a year.
The Supreme Court on Thursday said the country needs to be prepared for the third wave of COVID-19 which experts say could be more harmful, especially for children, and emphasised upon the need to create buffer stock of oxygen.
In a rare sharp attack on the BJP-led Centre, Rajinikanth also asked those in power to 'resign and go' if the violence could not be crushed with an iron fist.
Politically, women have been making their presence felt in voter turnouts. According to the Election Commission, the female voter turnout was higher than male turnout in 16 states and Union territories.
The prime minister highlighted the gains made during his last four years vis-a-vis the previous governments to suggest that he has lived up to the promise of hope he had offered to the electorate in 2014.
According to the ministry's data updated in the evening, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 1,574, followed by Tamil Nadu at 911 and Delhi at 903.
According to the 'SOP for partial reopening of Schools for students of 9th to 12th classes on a voluntary basis, for taking guidance from their teachers: In the context of COVID-19', a seating arrangement has to be made to ensure a distance of 6 feet between chairs, desks etc and the teaching faculty will ensure that they themselves and students wear masks throughout the conduct of the teaching/guidance activities.
The envoy said India has been successful in articulating its case with the international community including the US.
India is the third worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the US and Brazil in terms of cases and deaths.
Between October 21 and October 31, the rise in home isolation cases stood at over 41 per cent, as per the official figures.
Police said they entered the university campus only to control the situation, after protesters indulged in violence.
The statement came after chief ministers of West Bengal, Punjab, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh announced that the law is "unconstitutional" and has no place in their respective states.
'Now you see a patient, 10 minutes later the patient is dead.' 'The second wave is definitely much more dangerous, brutal and fatal than the first wave.' 'The number of deaths and infections in India today are very, very, high; the actual numbers are not being reported.'
The Congress, Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazagham and other opposition parties had wanted to raise several issues in the Upper House but Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu did not allow them and adjourned the House till 2 pm. After the Chair did not allow them again when the House met, they boycotted it for the rest of the day.
The crowd at the protest sites in Delhi's Singhu and Tikri borders was visibly thin on Thursday two days after the tractor parade turned violent, even though the farmer unions said it was because the protesters, who had come to the national capital to take part in January 26 march, have returned home.
"Manmohan Singh Ji (former Prime Minister) tried many times but could not do. Today when it is implemented, propaganda is being spread," Tomar said.
The man fired eight rounds in the presence of police personnel.
'We will ensure that every child is protected,' says Priyank Kanoongo, chairperson, NCPCR.
Kejriwal said the government has set up 9 shelters for the riot-affected people and is distributing food among them.
Terming the agitation for Ram temple the biggest since India's freedom movement, he said it was aimed at the outcome which the verdict has made possible.
With 39,297 cases in total, Maharashtra remains the worst affected state in the country, followed by Tamil Nadu (13,191 cases), Gujarat (12,537 cases), and Delhi (11,088 cases).
A day before the eighth round of talks, the government and the farmer unions stuck to their respective positions on Thursday -- the agitating farmers took out tractor rallies to press their demand for rollback of new agri laws and the Centre asserted it is ready to consider any proposal other than their repeal.
It will be the year of preparation for the electoral test in Uttar Pradesh, due in 2022. But before that, the West Bengal Assembly election will set the mood for the rest of 2021.
There was no announcement from the government on guaranteeing a minimum basic income, which is the need of the hour. The announcements on portability of ration cards and affordable rental housing to workers are for the long and medium terms. Migrant workers need immediate relief.
On reforms in pipeline, she said the government is for universal right to minimum wages and wants to remove regional disparity through a national floor wage.
To stop repeat money exchangers thronging banks with invalid currency notes, banks have started applying indelible ink mark on the right hand index finger of customers in the select metro cities.
