India's leading agri commodity bourse - the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange said on Monday that its trading volumes have been hit by the ban on futures trading in pulses, wheat and rice.
Dominic Xavier asks if the bills will really benefit farmers or if this is a ploy by the Modi government to push the agricultural sector towards privatisation.
'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.
In his letter dated December 28, issued from his native village Ralegan Siddhi of Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district, he said, that he has decided to again sit protest in Delhi from next month.
On Thursday, five state governments -- Gujarat, Delhi, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh -- notified the Essential Services Maintenance Act to ensure smooth supply of essential commodities. Though the truck operations in most of the key industrial and manufacturing states continued normally, truck operators in some parts of the nation resorted to violence to enforce the strike.
'It is only under the BJP that laws are made and unmade without prior Cabinet approval'
Tomar and Parkash, along with their ministerial colleague Piyush Goyal, had led the government's negotiations with the protesting farmers.
The opposition leaders are expected to meet at Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge's office in the Parliament complex around 10 am, sources said.
The Congress has decided to hold its public rally against inflation in Jaipur on December 12 after the Delhi Police denied it permission to host the rally in the national capital.
As COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Tamil Nadu, Palaniswami on Friday had announced a complete shutdown beginning Sunday in Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai for four days, disallowing grocery shops as well and fully curtailing movement of the public.
Here are the 10 key issues likely to be the centre of discussion in the seven-phase general elections that begin on April 19.
A complete lockdown will be imposed in Nagpur City police commissionerate area from March 15 to March 21 over the spread of Covid-19, the administration has announced.
Be it inflation, petrol price, corruption or scams, the UPA's progress report has been dismal.
Farmers protesting the contentious farm laws will hold demonstrations outside the residences of Bharatiya Janata Party lawmakers across the country on Saturday, a Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) office-bearer said.
However, the farmers are still protesting, demanding a law on MSP. Besides MSP, the farmers are also demanding a resolution for the livelihood of the families of the 700 farmers who died while protesting against the three farm laws.
The steel ministry has asked its finance counterpart to expedite the implementation of the measures that have been decided but not implemented yet to contain steel prices.
An expert committee, whose report is being awaited by the government to decide whether futures trading on essential commodities should be banned, has found no firm evidence that such trading was leading to rise in prices. An expert committee under the chairmanship of Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen to study the impact of futures trading on prices of agricultural commodities. Delisting of tur, urad rice and wheat from the futures market has not affected price movement.
'At this moment you cannot give her asylum because if you do, then you are directing public anger against India.'
Transporters on Thursday said they will surrender about 700 truck permits in the National Capital with the government toughening its stand and refusing to meet their demands as the strike entered the fourth day.
Truckers stayed off the road for the second today, demanding lower diesel prices and permit fee, squeezing supplies of essential commodities that gave way to panic buying across markets.
Expressing concerns over rising prices of essential commodities globally, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday favoured adjustments in domestic policies to contain inflation. Pointing to global oil prices touching new highs, the finance minister said: "It is important to factor in price increase and adjust our policies so that inflation doesn't get out of hand."
India uses the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) to calculate and then decide the inflation rate in the economy. Most developed countries use the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to calculate inflation.
The farmers' union had been camping at the Dalit Prerna Sthal since December 2, demanding withdrawal of the three new farm laws, legalisation of minimum support price (MSP) for crops and implementation of the recommendation of Swaminathan Committee's report.
The Re 1 cut in diesel prices could lead Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to announce a reduction in passenger fares in the forthcoming Railway Budget.
2012 was a year of disaster, both man-made and natural, in Mizoram and an acute shortage of essential commodities throughout the year added to people's woes while the vexed issue of repatriation of Bru refugees continued to haunt the government.
The issues listed by Gandhi include Centre-state relations, rise in cases of communal tension, border transgressions by China and the demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to investigate the transactions of the Adani business group in light of several revelations.
"Rahul Gandhi along with opposition leaders met President and submitted the memorandum to resolve farmers' issue. But there was no action from the President and the government. Rahul Gandhi will lead demonstration tomorrow at 10:45 am from Vijay Chowk to Rashtrapati Bhavan with Congress MPs," Suresh said.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi asked on Monday the government to keep the prices of essential commodities under check.
Underscoring price stability, more importantly for the poor, he said the government will use its foodgrains stocks to moderate prices and enhance imports of essential commodities.
"Strict action will be taken as per the law," Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij said in Ambala, responding to a question about the incident.
The party said its government has taken a number of initiatives since its formation including tough action against hoarders and limiting export prices of essential commodities like onion, rice and wheat.
The government will amend the six-and-a-half-decade old Essential Commodities Act to deregulate food items, including cereals, edible oil, oilseeds, pulses, onion and potato, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday. The amendment, besides deregulating production and sale of food products, will provide for no stock limit to be imposed on any produce.
The leaders later submitted to the government, what they said, were over 5 crore signatures collected during a two-month long nationwide campaign on these demands. The signatures on the charter of demands were delivered on a truck.
BJP National Secretary Kirit Somaiya alleged the current rupee dollar fluctuation was a major scam and it needed to be investigated by an expert group on a par with special investigation team.
Rising prices of essential commodities have dampened the Eid shopping
Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Sunday clarified that the government has no plans to bring back the recently repealed farm laws, and urged farmers to be wary of 'confusion' being created by the Congress on this issue.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the economic achievements of the government?
The term of the committee that the Manmohan Singh government has set up to study the impact of futures trading in agricultural commodities on price rise is being extended.
The Congress vice president had put out a tweet on Tuesday carrying erroneous percentages to depict a rise in the prices of essential commodities in a graphic and asked the prime minister whether his government was 'for the rich'.
In the Upper House of Parliament, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu did not allow adjournment notices moved by opposition members on the issue of price rise, prompting members of the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, the Left parties, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Shiv Sena to create an uproar.
