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.
There was buzz of Piyush Goyal being elevated to Cabinet rank but only Prakash Javadekar made the cut.
The talks between the two sides have not resumed following the widespread violence during a tractor rally by the protesting farmers on January 26.
India's wheat production is projected to have declined nearly 3 per cent to 106.84 million tonnes while the overall foodgrain production is estimated to have touched record 315.72 million tonnes in the 2021-22 crop year. The wheat production is estimated to have declined due to heatwave that resulted in shrivelled grains in the northern states of Punjab and Haryana. Releasing the fourth advance estimate for the 2021-22 crop year, the Union agriculture ministry on Wednesday said a record output is also estimated for rice, maize, gram, pulses, rapeseed and mustard, oilseeds and sugarcane.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Friday met Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi, seeking her party's cooperation for smooth functioning of the Parliament session beginning June 17.
Prime Minister Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh would be present at the function, a government spokesperson said.
Later, Sitharaman's office clarified that the FM had already met the industrialists, experts, and economists during the pre-budget consultations.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday named Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar and its general secretary Arun Singh as central observers for the election of the leader of its legislative party in Assam.
Asserting that the new farm laws are in the interest of the farming community, the government said obstacles do come whenever good things or measures are taken and it is taking longer to resolve the issue as farmers' leaders want a solution their own way.
During their last meeting on Thursday also, the farmer leaders had their own lunch, tea and even water.
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.
The BJP retained power in MP in the November 17 polls emphatically winning 163 seats in the 230-member assembly, leaving the Congress a distant second with 66 seats.
The Congress wants to reinforce the tax more powerfully now after its four generations reaped benefit of the wealth passed on to them, he said.
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.
The move came a day after Parliament approved two agriculture sector-reform bills which have been bitterly opposed by the opposition parties like Congress and TMC.
Modi told the leaders that Tomar was just a phone call away for protesting farmers and the agriculture minister had conveyed the same to farmer leaders earlier this month.
Three union ministers -- Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Food Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce and Industries Som Prakash -- will hold discussions again with 40 farmer unions' leaders, including the Bharatiya Kisan Union which is spearheading the protests.
"It was a rehearsal for the proposed January 26 tractor parade," Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) leader Shingara Singh Mann told PTI over the phone.
Total burden on the exchequer will increase by Rs 12,000 crore to Rs 87,217.50 crore for the year 2019-20.
'Elections in Madhya Pradesh have so far largely avoided freebies.' 'But this time both the Congress and BJP are making such announcements.'
A fierce competition among parties to offer freebies and guarantees, a scramble for tribal, OBC, women votes and a touch of Hindutva -- all have combined to make the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls a high-stakes battle with main rivals BJP and the Congress pulling out all the stops to gain power.
The longest-serving Bharatiya Janata Party chief minister and popularly known as mama (maternal uncle) and 'paon-paon wale bhaiya' (foot soldier), Shivraj Singh Chouhan has emerged as the hero of his party's stunning victory in the state assembly elections.
The sixth round of talks between the two sides are being held after a considerable gap. The fifth round of talks was held on December 5.
"The government is just giving empty promises due to which I do not have any trust left (in the government)... Let's see, what action the Centre takes on my demands. They have sought time for a month, so I have given them time till January-end. If my demands are not met, I will resume my huger strike protest. This would be my last protest," the 83-year-old said.
The committee has been tasked to come up with policy measures to boost agriculture exports, raise growth in food processing, attract investments in modern market infrastructure, value chains and logistics.
Sticking to their key demand of the repeal of three farm laws to end their protest, farmer leaders on Friday told the government their 'ghar wapsi' can happen only after 'law wapsi' but the Centre insisted talks must be limited to contentious clauses and ruled out a complete withdrawal of Acts.
Elections are scheduled in five states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa and Punjab.
Trudeau, 48, is the first world leader to comment on the farmers' protests.
Some leaders also threatened that they will boycott the scheduled sixth round of talks with the government on Wednesday at Vigyan Bhawan, while others said their next course of action will depend on what amendments the government assures in writing, which they claimed was promised by Shah in Tuesday's meeting.
'On January 22, when the last round of talks took place, the farmer leaders were told by Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar that the government is also prepared.' 'And they did this.'
The farmer representatives were unanimous in seeking repeal of the 3 laws.
He also said the Centre has not answered the questions raised by him in the Lok Sabha on the issues of farmers and said its reply was a 'joke'.
Counting of votes will be held on Sunday in assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana in what is seen as a semi-final contest ahead of the general elections in less than six months.
The 77 ministers have been divided into eight groups to develop technology-based resources, create a pool of professionals for recruiting in their teams and other similar initiatives to be adopted in the offices of all ministers' offices to bring more transparency and further improve and efficiency of the Modi government, the sources said.
Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Arun Jaitley, J P Nadda and Prakash Javadekar were among the key leaders from the BJP at the meeting.
The PM also said that the country does not face problems in farm production but in post-harvest losses and therefore efforts are being made to strengthen post harvest infrastructure facilities and ensure better income for farmers.
A day after unprecedented violence in Delhi during the tractor parade, the government on Wednesday said it has never stated that the doors for dialogue with farmers are closed and stressed that it will inform whenever the decision is taken for fresh talks.
Tomar was arrested around 11 am following investigation into a complaint by the bar council of Delhi.
To kick-start the work under MGNREGA after the lockdown is lifted, the government has already prepared plans and states have also submitted their work plans.
Tomar had discussed the two proposals with trade unions on June 24 and assured that the government will take at least two weeks to take a decision.
