Police sources said the chief minister left his residence around 11 am to attend a programme.
According to sources, the government has worked out possible solutions to the provisions on which farm leaders have raised objections.
India has called the remarks by foreign leaders on protests by farmers as "ill-informed" and "unwarranted" as the matter pertained to the internal affairs of a democratic country.
Despite heavy security deployment, groups of farmers from Punjab managed to reach near two Delhi border points on Friday morning after breaking police barricades in Haryana.
'As of now, it is hard to see how the stalemate can be broken.' 'For the Sikh Jat farmers who constitute the core of the protest are a simple-minded but stubborn lot. 'They are unlikely to call off the stir unless provided a sense of 'victory'.' 'Give them a reason to boast that they brought the government to its knees and they will start singing hallelujahs to the Modi government,' argues Virendra Kapoor.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha announced that toll collection will not be allowed in Rajasthan from February 12.
The leadership of the powerful Congressional India Caucus has urged the Indian government to ensure that the norms of democracy are maintained.
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.
Though there was no clear roadmap, the farmers, belonging to multiple groups, including 30 from Punjab, appeared clear in their resolve, some saying that they would not disperse till the laws were repealed and others that would ensure their voices are heard.
Due to a 'Kisan Mazdoor Mahapanchayat' convened by farmers at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on Thursday, the Delhi Police has beefed up security and deployed heavy force for checking vehicles, which might lead to traffic snarls in the central parts of the city, officials said.
Delhi Police has given permission to the farmers to hold their 'Kisan Mazdoor Mahapanchayat' with the condition of gathering not exceeding to 5,000, no tractor trolleys, no march at the Ramlila Maidan, and made elaborate security arrangements that may lead to a heavy traffic jam in the national capital on March 14, officials on Wednesday said.
The 'ghar wapsi' was marked with celebratory atmosphere at Ghazipur border, where protestors, chiefly members and supporters of the Tikait family-led Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), danced to patriotic and regional tunes hailing the farming community.
Ahead of farmers' 'Delhi Chalo March', the Delhi Police has intensified security arrangements at Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri borders and installed nails along with barricades to prevent vehicles carrying protesters from entering the city, officials said on Sunday.
'It is quite clear that the agitation against the farm laws is against the Centre and they will try to create all hurdles they can in that. They are using all tactics as their sole purpose is to defeat the agitation'
The Centre's retreat from the farm laws is likely to have a significant bearing on the fate of laws that the Centre has made, for instance, in labour and electricity, predicts A K Bhattacharya.
Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher on Tuesday said the Centre should convene a daylong Parliament session to bring a legislation on the minimum support price (MSP) for crops, a key demand of protesting farmers.
The Supreme Court may take into account the matter of recusal of the member from the panel on Monday when it is scheduled to hear the pleas relating to the controversial farm laws and the farmers protests.
The central government on Thursday sent a formal letter to the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) agreeing to accept their pending demands and prompting the farmers' body to suspend their over a yearlong agitation.
With farmers on Thursday blocking railway tracks across the country, at stations big and small, protesters at Singhu said it proves that the agitation is not just limited to Punjab and Haryana.
The 'pizza langar' has hogged headlines and garnered compliments from different quarters, and also brickbats from a certain section.
Officials also said that the move to send out the emails was a conscious choice as part of a communication strategy for public interest.
Yogendra Yadav said the decision to defer the march was taken over a forecast of bad weather conditions on Wednesday.
The remarks came as farmer leaders Darshan Pal, Balbir Singh Rajewal, Gurnam Singh Chaduni and Rakesh Tikait of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha held an interaction with the press at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border.
Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait claimed that the crops are not procured by the government as per the MSP.
As cracks began to appear in their ongoing agitation against the agri laws, farmer unions on Wednesday cancelled their planned march to Parliament on February 1 when the Budget would be presented.
Farmers from Punjab clashed with Haryana police at two border points between the states on Tuesday, facing tear gas and water cannons as they tried to break past barricades blocking their protest march to the national capital. The police lobbed tear gas shells -- some of them dropped from a drone -- and tried to disperse groups of stone-pelting protesters in the face-off that last several hours at Shambhu border near Ambala in Haryana.
The farmers stuck to their demand of taking out the rally on Delhi's busy Outer Ring Road.
The remarks of the apex court, which also said there is a 'peculiar lack of comprehension' about constitution of a panel, assumes importance as some of the members of the recently constituted committee to resolve the deadlock between farmers and the centre over the farm laws had earlier reportedly expressed their views on the subject.
The COVID-19 case fatality rate further declined to 1.45 per cent.
No breakthrough has been possible in the five rounds of talks so far as the protesting farmers have stuck to their demand for the repeal of the laws despite the government's assurance to look into specific issues without abolishing the legislations.
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.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday announced job for a member of the family of each farmer from the state who died during the agitation against the Centre's new farm laws.
Senior BJP leader and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad alleged that a section of farmers has fallen in the grip of a few people with "vested interests" and asserted that the government was working to address their misgivings about the reforms, which have drawn strong protests from a section of cultivators.
He asked all party members to serve the farmers selflessly.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, which is spearheading the protest against the Centre's three new agri-marketing laws, told the MPs the 'Voters' Whip' overrides their party whips.
The new bill will now be introduced in the Lok Sabha for passage in the upcoming Winter session of Parliament beginning November 29.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde will hear the application on January 18 along with pleas raising the issue of farmers protesting at Delhi borders.
Farmers will observe June 5 as 'Sampoorna Kranti Divas' by burning copies of the central farm laws in front of the offices of BJP MPs and MLAs to mark the day when these legislations were initially promulgated as ordinances last year, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha said.
Festivals of Lohri and Bhogi were celebrated in various parts of the country with fervour on Wednesday while Indians geared up for Makar Sankranti on Thursday.
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.
