Tomar said, "The prime minister had brought the three Bills that were passed by the Parliament. They would have benefitted farmers. PM's clear intention was to bring revolutionary changes in the lives of farmers. But I am pained that we failed to explain benefits to some farmers of the nation."
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.
In separate letters in Hindi to Modi and Tomar, the AIKSCC said that the government is wrong in assuming that the farmers' agitation against the three farm laws is being engineered by opposition parties.
The Sena leader said the protesters are India's own farmers and the government should have a dialogue with them.
"You have gone through extraordinary pain, and we don't want others to go through the kind of pain that you've gone through. Wouldn't be right," said the president.
The meeting also decided to strengthen the security measures to monitor the local fishing boats and crews, intensify checking of passenger boats and vessels reaching the islands and strengthen the ship berthing points and helibase by installing CCTV cameras.
Nishank's clarification, through a tweet in Tamil, comes in the backdrop of opposition to NEP in Tamil Nadu on the grounds that the policy allegedly imposed Hindi and Sanskrit.
Despite mounting pressure, Gotabaya, and Prime Minister Mahinda have refused to quit office.
Protesting farmer leaders in the vulnerable age group Monday said they are not afraid of coronavirus and won't take vaccine jabs, even as the second phase of vaccination drive got underway to inoculate senior citizens and those above 45 with underlying medical conditions.
Responding to the NCP leader's remarks, Tomar said Pawar, who is a veteran leader, is also considered well-versed with the issues and solutions relating to agriculture. "Pawar himself tried hard to bring the same agriculture reforms earlier."
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.
"Our call of tractor march to Parliament still stands. A final decision on the future course of the agitation and MSP issues will be taken in a meeting of the SKM at Singhu Border on Sunday," farmer leader and SKM core committee member Darshan Pal told PTI on Saturday.
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.
Reading out a reply to the government's talks offer during a press conference, farmers leaders said that they are ready for dialogue with an open mind if they get a concrete proposal, but made it clear they will not accept anything less than a complete repeal of the three agriculture laws and legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP).
'Our movement was not about putting any flag on the Red Fort, but it is to secure our livelihood.'
'If our demands aren't met, then, we will hold tractor march on January 6 and also on January 26'
Chinese President Xi Jinping is all set for an unprecedented third five-year term as he was 'elected' to the powerful Central Committee of the ruling Communist Party on Saturday while several top leaders including Premier Li Keqiang have been left out in the major shake-up at the top.
Speaking to reporters at the Gujarat BJP headquarters, the Union textiles and women and child development minister hit out at Gandhi over his comment that the Congress, if voted to power, would scrap the contentious legislations.
'We don't have a plan for the crisis at all. The uncertainty will continue.'
Without directly referring to the farmers' agitation, which entered the 17th day on Saturday, Modi said agriculture reforms as part of government efforts are aimed at removing roadblocks, and the new laws will also bring in technology and investment in the sector.
Except for Xi, 69, all top officials including the number two leader, Premier Li Keqiang will be replaced in the massive reshuffle to follow in the days to come, which included a new foreign minister replacing the incumbent Wang Yi.
"It is certainly affected. As you know the border is closed. The customers are coming in lesser number than before and so is the supply of goods into the market. There is a lack of supply and also a lack of buyers," vegetable wholesaler, Sumer Singh Saini told ANI when asked whether the business in the market is affected due to the agitation.
'Nehru wanted to strengthen industries by exploiting agriculture and that policy was continued by successive governments.'
President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has launched a severe crackdown on pro-democracy activists.
And the only answer one can think of is that this is being done to preserve the image of toughness and 56 inches and all the rest of it, notes Aakar Patel.
A large number of farmers on Tuesday squatted at the gates of the district headquarters in Karnal, locked in a showdown with Haryana's Bharatiya Janata Party-led government over a police lathi-charge last month.
In a message for the Congress, poll strategist Prashant Kishor on Friday said those looking for a quick revival of the grand old party-led opposition following the Lakhimpur Kheri incident are in for a big disappointment as there are no quick fix solutions to the "deep-rooted problems" of the party.
During their last meeting on Thursday also, the farmer leaders had their own lunch, tea and even water.
Tikait said the government should "release our men and prepare an environment conducive for talks".
Hours after making the statement, the Haryana agriculture minister said he has seen "twisted" statements, attributed to him, on social media.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday had slammed those abusing agitating Sikh farmers, 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 at the Singhu border protest site, farmer leaders warned of multiple actions if their main demands are not met. They said that only five per cent of the issues raised by them have so far been discussed in meetings with the government.
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.
'You realised there was a struggle outside and now your struggle is to survive, live in prison, to retain your feelings, your humanity, and collectively continue doing inside what you were doing outside.'
The complainant had in the statement claimed that Sultana spread false news about the spread of Covid-19 in the Union Territory during a debate on a Malayalam TV channel.
Farmer leader Joginder Singh Ugrahan said told reporters after the meeting that the unions urged the government to repeal the three laws, but the Centre was unwilling to do so. "We decided to meet again on January 19 at 12 pm," he said.
Social activist Anna Hazare said he won't be proceeding with the indefinite fast against the new farm laws and claimed that the Central government has agreed to some of his demands.
Malik had earlier pleaded guilty to all the charges including those under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in a terror funding case.
'The worry among many international actors is whether there will be stability to provide assistance to the government because the political developments in the last few months are a real concern.'
Uttam Ghosh asks if the hasty manner in which the farm bills were passed means another strike against democracy in a nation which prides itself as the most populous democracy in the world.
