Families of farmers along with fellow villagers at many places in Punjab, which had once remained the epicentre of the farmers' agitation, will prepare 'ladoos', 'jalebis', 'barfi' and other sweets to welcome them, farmer leaders said.
Before bidding farewell to Singhu, some farmers performed havans and sang kirtans, and some danced to bhangra songs to mark the day as 'Vijay Diwas'.
While seven of the suspended MPs belonged to the TMC, six were from the DMK, three from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, two from the Communist Party of India-Marxist and one from the Communist Party of India.
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.
Opposition parties have alleged that the two agriculture Bills will undermine the safety net provided to the farmers by the MSP system and will lead to their exploitation by big companies.
Prem Murti Pandey bought 25 tonnes of onions, load them onto a truck and hit the road.
The detection of the COVID-19 case from the premises of the President's Estate prompted Rashtrapati Bhavan to issue a statement in which they clarified that 'no employee of the President's secretariat has tested positive for COVID-19 and the secretariat along with the local administration is taking all the preventive measures required under the government guidelines'.
Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) K V Subramanian on Tuesday exuded confidence that India would achieve double-digit growth in the current financial year on the back of policy initiatives and continuing reforms. He also said the country is well poised to meet the fiscal deficit target of 6.8 per cent of GDP. "At this stage, I can say confidently that we should be able to achieve that fiscal deficit number. "Any shortfalls that might happen on the disinvestment side will also be accompanied by positive surprises that have happened on tax revenue," he told reporters.
Termed 'Unlock 1', the Centre on Saturday issued fresh guidelines relaxing the nationwide lockdown, the fourth phase of which ends on May 31.
'If because of El Nino, the monsoon is affected adversely in the current year, naturally it will affect income projections and consequently Budget numbers.'
'If our demands aren't met, then, we will hold tractor march on January 6 and also on January 26'
The letter by Singh, who is camping at the Dalit Prerna Sthal in Noida along with his faction members since December 2, came as protestors marked the birth anniversary of former prime minister and farmers' leader Chaudhary Charan Singh.
'There are 80 million tonnes of foodgrain in our godowns and yet, 200 million people go to bed hungry.' 'So I decided to fight hunger.'
Shetkari Sanghatana president Anil J Ghanwat said the panel's report was in 'favour of farmers' and will decide next week on releasing the report in the public domain.
The Karnataka Congress is a "united house" and it will fight the assembly polls next year on its own under a "collective leadership", party's state unit chief DK Shivakumar said on Thursday.
Farmers' protest against the three farm laws passed by the Centre has entered its 23rd day on Friday. "We are preparing ourselves for a longer stay as our fight against black laws will continue. It's getting colder, so we're putting more tents," said a protester.
'Everything here is 'sewa'. We saw so many children from neighbouring slums roaming around for food, and thought why not also help them keep engaged in a constructive way'
Tomar also indicated that the government will not repeal the laws.
The curfew was clamped in Vizianagaram town on Saturday night in the wake of large-scale violence by anti-bifurcation agitators following the Union Cabinet's decision to create a separate Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh.
"No meeting will be held between farmers and the government tomorrow. The minister has said that a proposal will be given to the farmer leaders tomorrow (December 9). Farmer leaders will hold a meeting over government's proposal," Mollah had told the media on Tuesday.
The representatives of thousands of agitating farmers, who are sitting on various borders of the national capital since November 26 demanding repeal of the three agri laws, have said that the countrywide strike on Tuesday would be observed with full force.
The farmers threatened to intensify their agitation and block more roads if the government did not accept their demand.
The Centre will utilise huge network of post offices across the country to sell subsidised pulses, mainly tur, urad and chana, to ensure availability in the ongoing festival season.
The government's predicament is a result of its own doing: That of not ensuring adequate buy-in by the stakeholders before passage of the laws, notes Vivek Gumaste.
As Manipur grapples with protracted ethnic strife, the Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre and the state government to ensure uninterrupted supply of basic commodities like food and medicines to people facing economic blockade in certain areas of the border state.
Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian said China imports a lot of components, parts, assembles and integrates and then exports them.
The MHA on Friday, while extending the lockdown for two more weeks till May 17, lifted many restrictions in green and orange zones. There are no restrictions on sale of non-essential items by e-commerce platforms in green and orange zones, a home ministry spokesperson said, adding barber shops and salons are also allowed to open in these areas.
Shops selling essentials including vegetables functioned from morning till 2 pm and private vehicles and autos, taxis were off the roads.
A look at the key decisions taken by the Narendra Modi government in its six months.
Though authorities and NGOs have made arrangements for their food, most of them want to go back to their native places to escape the hardship brought by the sweeping curbs.
"We are here to oppose Modi's 'Mann Ki Baat'. We are registering this protest because the prime minister only says what he has to without listening to the voice of the people," Chaduni said during the protest.
Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, speaking on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address, charged the government with not delivering on its various promises, including generating two crore jobs per year.
BKU (Bhanu) president Thakur Bhanu Pratap Singh told reporters he was deeply pained by whatever happened during the tractor parade in Delhi on Republic Day.
Cargill believes the reforms would act as a catalyst in attracting private sector investment in building supply chains for taking Indian farm produce to national and global markets.
Tractors from Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan have also reached on Tikri border between Delhi-Haryana as the farmers sit in for protest for nearly two months. The move comes as Delhi Police formally granted permission for the rally on January 26, assigning them routes for the same.
Stating that Trinamool Congress was in the central government when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister, Mamata said without naming the Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate that Gujarat had witnessed riots and the people did not support riots.
Stocks of alcoholic beverage makers have corrected over the last few trading sessions on worries that taxes, competition and costs will hurt sales and profitability. The recent trigger for the decline is Karnataka, which accounts for 15 per cent of overall liquor consumption, increasing duties. The state increased by 20 per cent the additional excise duty on Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) on all slabs.
'They were certainly not practising Hinduism in the Harappan culture (which includes Mohenjo Daro and other sites).' 'There was no notion of Hinduism then.'
Farmer unions opposing the Centre's new agri laws on Wednesday rejected a suggestion by police officers to hold their proposed January 26 tractor rally on the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway instead of Delhi's busy Outer Ring Road, sources said.
The move comes days after Congress chief Sonia Gandhi asked states under party's rule to enact legislations to bypass Centre's three farm-related laws that have triggered protests by farmers.
