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.
In both of these Hindi heartland states, the straight contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress.
'I wonder how people who come to power through democratic means turn out this way.' 'But people of India are strong, and those who think they can hoodwink people, are mistaken.' 'You can fool some people for some time, but not all people, all the time.'
Tomar said the next meeting will take place on Saturday at 2 pm which he hoped would take the matter to a decisive stage and towards a final resolution.
The Centre on Friday said that no farmer died due to police action during the year-long protests by farmers.
The agriculture minister said the government's constant efforts are aimed at making farmers prosperous by increasing their income.
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.
Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar to move Farmers' and Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, in Rajya Sabha on Sunday.
Hearing a public interest litigation filed by NGO Amguri Naba Nirman Samity, a high court division bench comprising Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Soumitra Saikia asked the Assam government to file a detailed status report on the case.
The Congress leadership has become stunted, it does not understand agriculture and the party is trying to mislead farmers for its own vested interests, said Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.
The swearing-in ceremony of Pramod Sawant as Goa's chief minister will be held on March 28 and prominent Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will attend the event.
Desai's comments came amidst speculation doing the rounds in the political circles that Sawant will again be the chief minister of Goa.
The Union minister expressed hope that the government will be able to find the solution to the issues raised by the protesting farmers.
Patel, whose name is doing the rounds for the top post in the state, told reporters in Gandhinagar that he will not speak about any individual's name at this stage and the BJP's central leadership will decide on the new chief minister.
If the bribe-for-PPE-supply controversy in Himachal escalates, the BJP could have a lot to lose.
The crucial tenth round of meeting with 41 farm unions is scheduled for Tuesday. The talks have failed to yield any concrete results as the agitating unions have stuck to their main demand for repealing the agri laws and the government has ruled out any such step.
'The President of India, as advised by the prime minister, has accepted the resignation of Harsimrat Kaur Badal from the Union Council of Ministers, with immediate effect,' the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a statement.
Countering the opposition claim that farmers across the country are agitated over the three new laws, he said that those in just one state are being misinformed and instigated.
AAP's presence in both states has complicated the contests for the BJP and its Congress rival.
'Elections in Madhya Pradesh have so far largely avoided freebies.' 'But this time both the Congress and BJP are making such announcements.'
A delegation of farmers will meet Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday, said the spokesperson of Bharatiya Kisan Union.
The BJP on Wednesday also named its in-charges for assembly bypolls to four seats in Tripura.
The following is the timeline of the chain of events that led to the suspension of the Wrestling Federation of India by UWW, the sport's global governing body.
Sarma's name was proposed by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and seconded by BJP state party president Ranjeet Kumar Dass and newly elected Haflong MLA Nandita Garlosa.
Western UP contributes nearly 70 seats to the 402-member UP assembly. In 2017, the BJP had swept the region. Every pre-2022 poll survey had suggested the party would face its biggest attrition from this region because of the farmers' groups.
Farmer leaders on Saturday said the protesting unions stand firm on their demand of a complete repeal of the three agri laws and asserted that they are ready for talks with the government, but that should be held without any condition.
As a precautionary measure and to avoid any turbulence in law and order situation, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has decided to keep three Metro stations -- Vishwavidyalaya, Civil Lines and Vidhan Sabha -- shut from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm on Saturday.
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.
Both Sawant and Rane are being seen as top contenders for the post of chief minister in the state.
The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the National Mission on Edible Oils - Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) with a financial outlay of Rs 11,040 crore to promote domestic cultivation of oil palm in the next five years, and reduce the country's dependence on edible oil imports. The decision comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the new central scheme on August 15 during his Independence Day speech at Red Fort. Briefing the media, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said the Cabinet approved the NMEO-OP with a focus on the northeast region and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands with a financial outlay of Rs 11,040 crore.
Addressing a poll meeting in Dabra, where the Congress is up against Imarti Devi of the BJP, Nath said his party candidate was a "simple person" unlike his opponent who is an "item".
The Agriculture Ministry has incurred an expenditure of Rs 67,99,750 on production of three promotional and two educational films on the farm laws for its wider publicity through electronic media, social media and webinars.
The government on Thursday asked farmer groups to consider its proposals for amending the Acts to address their concerns and said it was open to discussing its offer further whenever the unions want.
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.
When asked if the African cheetahs will adapt easily to the Indian habitat, she said that the species are adaptable and India has a history of their presence.
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.
'The prime minister should not have involved himself in these negotiations.' 'If he had not got himself involved and allowed only his ministers to talk to the farmers, things would have not reached this stage.'
Stopping short of naming him, Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani on Saturday attacked Rahul Gandhi saying he goes around claiming to be a youth leader while being close to 50 years of age.
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has held a series of meetings with MPs and Union ministers from Punjab and Haryana and surrounding states, and virtual interactions with state agricultural ministers of all BJP-led National Democratic Alliance ruled states where he briefed them about the merits of the two bills, the sources said.
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.
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