A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian was informed by senior advocate Dushyant Dave and advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the farmer unions, who have been made party in the case that they had firm belief that farm laws are against their interest.
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.
The department for promotion of industry and internal trade has rejected Walmart-backed Flipkart's proposal seeking approval for entry to the food retail sector, citing a regulatory issue, an official said on Monday. The government permits 100 per cent foreign direct investment in food retail for food produced and manufactured in India.
While 100 per cent FDI is allowed in single-brand retail, if the foreign investment exceeds 51 per cent, the 30 per cent mandatory local sourcing norm kicks in.
Iran is India's largest importer of tea in value terms while in terms of volume, it is the second largest after Russia
Participating in the discussion on the Motion on Thanks to President's Address to the joint sitting of Parliament, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Congress member Ghulam Nabi Azad suggested that Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself should make the announcement on repeal of the laws. Modi was present in the House at the time.
The RJD leader, who is the Mahagathbandhan's chief ministerial face, said that if voted to power, providing jobs to unemployed youth would be his topmost priority.
'Walmart will source globally and more from China and will dump these cheap goods in India, making our country a dumping yard.'
"Let me take a risk and say Chief Justice of India wants them (protesting farmers) to go back to their homes. Try to persuade them," the Chief Justice, who headed a three-judge bench said. "People are committing suicide. People are calling names. People are suffering in cold and pandemic situations. If not cold, farmers are in danger of COVID," the bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, told lawyers appearing for the farmers union and asked them to persuade the protestors to go home.
There had been few signs of social distancing as thousands of farmers from Punjab and Haryana began their protest last week against the three new agro-marketing laws, setting off on a march to the national capital.
'The protesters took out a march carrying black flags. They burnt Prime Minister Narendra Modi's effigy while raising slogans against the three farm laws'
The Bangladeshi prime minister said that India's sudden decision to stop onion exports has led to a bit of difficulty for her countrymen.
Rajya Sabha witnessed unruly scenes on Sunday as Opposition members stormed the well and reached the deputy chairman's seat to protest against the farm bills debated and passed by the Upper House through voice vote.
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.
Expressing concern over appreciating rupee affecting exports, the government on Wednesday slammed developed countries for distorting global trade by highly subsiding their farm produce.
India will export anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, high in demand globally, only to foreign governments and not to private companies, as the product is under prohibited or banned category of exports, sources said. Although exports of this medicine is completely banned, India has decided to export this anti-malarial drug in sync with its global commitment to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
A combination of externalities such as global trade wars and slowing growth, continuing glitches in accessing offsets under the GST regime, which has created a liquidity crunch for smaller exporters, and the growing competitiveness of smaller countries are causing the slowdown.
Agitating farmer groups on Thursday held a four-hour nationwide 'rail roko' agitation with the railways saying there was negligible impact on services though some trains were stopped by officials at stations as a precautionary measure.
Though the US has got together a number of vetted and potential Indian business partners, most of these companies say they haven't had much luck in stitching up deals to tap into India as an export market for their goods.
A day ahead of former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's visit to Rajasthan to raise the voice of the farmers against the farm laws, he said that the Centre should withdraw the laws and after thorough consultation with farmers and states, come up with a new set of legislations which the tillers would themselves want and is not something that is forced upon them.
'Let us stand together in displaying our utter and complete lack of spine, in safeguarding our hundreds of crore rupees of income and in supporting this military-style mobilisation against the very masses who have practically treated us as gods and to whom we owe everything we enjoy.'
'A perception has been built in our country that whatever Modi says you cannot challenge that.'
With almost all opposition parties and several trade unions backing the 'Bharat Bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing all the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure COVID guidelines are followed.
Protesting farmers owing allegiance to different farmers' bodies blocked state and national highways at several places on Saturday, causing inconvenience to commuters.
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.
Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged on Thursday to give Indian companies and products - especially including those made by the pharmaceutical, farming and fuel industries - greater access to Chinese markets.
The Directorate General of Foreign trade on Friday issued an order banning toy imports from China, which is India's biggest trade partner, for six months. The notification, however, gave no reason for the ban.
Emotions ran high as the farmers performed ardas (prayers) and havan to thank the almighty and started their 'victory march' from Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur protest sites to Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in convoys of tractors, bedecked with colourful flowers and lights and blaring songs of jubilation.
Yuan's fall would worsen India's trade deficit with China.
The product was banned for export earlier, but has now been moved to the restricted category, under which an exporter would have to seek a licence from the government for shipments.
Wearing garlands, the farmer leaders, who had called for observing 'Sadbhavana Diwas' (Harmony Day) on Saturday after the immense outrage over violence by protesters during their Republic Day tractor rally, sat on the dais during the fast, as crowds of supporters swelled, especially in Gazipur where the Bharatiya Kisan Union is leading the protest.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) supporters stayed put on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway on Friday as the crowd swelled there, notwithstanding the Ghaziabad administration's ultimatum to vacate the UP Gate protest site where security force in large numbers was re-deployed.
The simultaneous decline of several trade-related indicators should put policy makers on guard for a sharper slowdown.
'The farm bills will not bring in corporate zamindari'
The development came a day after the protesting farmers rejected the Centre's offer to start talks as soon as they move to Burari and continued to stay put Singhu and Tikri borders of the national capital.
Talking tough, India on Friday threatened to drag the European Union to the World Trade Organization if the 28-nation bloc did not lift its ban on the import of Indian mangoes and vegetables.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani on Monday pressed for bridging the digital divide "both among nations and within nations", saying connectivity and communications have become the fundamental rights of every person. Also, there is a need to bring back the economies around the globe. Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum, he said it is difficult to imagine what India would have been without the 4G telecom network during the pandemic. "The digital divide must be bridged, both among nations and within nations.
According to industry figures, the pre-Covid demand for liquid medical oxygen (LMO) before the pandemic was 700 tonnes per day across the country. Now, with the second wave, the demand has gone up more than seven times, reports Jyoti Mukul.
The US seems to be engaging in a game of brinkmanship where President Trump's visit has been used as 'leverage' to pressure India into agreeing to a trade deal, notes Kashish Parpiani.
Despite domestic shortages, Pakistan is unlikely to import wheat from India owing to political reasons and different agri-trade regimes in the two countries, a Pakistani legislator and industry representative said in New Delhi.
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