The Bharatiya Janata Party has released its manifesto for the upcoming Nagaland assembly elections, promising a special package for the eastern part of the state and establishment of a board for the holistic development of the region if the party returns to power for the second time in a row.
The Delhi Police on Tuesday resorted to lathicharge and tear gas at the Singhu border after protesting farmers breached barricades set up to thwart them from entering the national capital. The police had given farmers permission to enter the city after the official Republic Day parade at Rajpath.
Nearly eight months after the government repealed the three controversial farm Acts, it has constituted a high-powered panel under the chairmanship of former agriculture secretary Sanjay Agarwal to make the minimum support price (MSP) mechanism more effective and transparent as promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his televised address announcing the repeal. The names of three members from the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), the main grouping that spearheaded the year-long agitation at Delhi's borders, have been withheld, pending receipt by the government, stated a gazette notification. NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand, Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad Professor Sukhpal Singh, Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative chairman Dilip Sanghani, secretaries of the Departments of Agriculture, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Food and Consumer Affairs, Cooperation and Textiles, along with representatives from the state governments of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, and Odisha will also form part of the panel.
Reliance Industries Ltd will invest Rs 75,000 crore in rolling out 5G mobile telephony services, expanding retail network and setting up renewable energy capacity in Uttar Pradesh in the next four years, its chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Friday. Ambani also announced foray of the oil-to-telecom conglomerate into bio-energy business, converting agriculture waste into gas which can be used as fuel in industries, run automobiles or light kitchen stoves. Speaking at the Uttar Pradesh Global Investors Summit 2023 here, Ambani said his group will set up 10 GigaWatts of renewable energy capacity and roll out 5G services across the state in the next 10 months.
The 71-year-old Dhankhar has been a noted lawyer, was instrumental in getting Other Backward Class status for Jats in Rajasthan and loves to beat his own cappuccino desi-style.
Khattar talked about "tit for tat" during a meeting of the BJP's Kisan Morcha in Chandigarh when he told the gathering to form groups of 500 to 1,000 and be prepared to even go to jail.
Sanyukt Kisan Morcha said the move is aimed at further strengthening and expanding the farmers' agitation which began in November last year.
The protesting farmers celebrated Holi at the borders and maintained that their agitation will continue till the farm laws are repealed and a separate law on minimum support price is enacted, it said in a statement.
Following are the highlights of the Economic Survey 2022-23 tabled in Parliament on Tuesday
President Droupadi Murmu said the nation will benefit from Dhankhar's long and rich experience in public life and extended her best wishes for a productive and successful tenure.
"Now it is necessary to investigate whether there is a lapse in the security or the anger of the farmers!" Tikait tweeted in Hindi on Wednesday.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha has suspended its November 29 tractor march to Parliament and it will hold a meeting next month to decide its future course of action, farmer leaders said on Saturday.
These "kisan mahapanchayat" are scheduled to be held in Haryana's Karnal, Rohtak, Sirsa and Hisar districts, and Maharashtra's Akola and Rajasthan's Sikar, he said.
RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale met with the leadership of the UP BJP, including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, state BJP President Bhupendra Chaudhary and state BJP General Secretary (Organisation) Dharmapal.
Farmers said that they never blocked roads at the Delhi border points.
On International Women's Day, hundreds of women took to streets while raising slogans of "kisan ekta" (farmer unity) and some broke into nonchalant rhythmic steps of 'bhangra'.
Govind Singh Dotasra, Harish Chaudhary and Raghu Sharma have already offered their resignations in writing to Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday.
The protesting wrestlers also said that they will oppose holding of competitions if Singh is involved in their organisation.
In a statement, the SKM, an umbrella body of 40 farmers' unions, said the struggle will continue to get all demands of the protesting farmers fulfilled and all announced plans are underway.
Farmers have taken down their settlements and have vacated the borders around Delhi, which were their protesting sites for the last one year.
A statement issued on Monday by the umbrella body of farmers' unions protesting against the central farm laws, reiterated earlier 'ultimatum about October 11 being the deadline for the sacking and arrest of Ajay Mishra Teni'.
The Congress on Sunday gave a call to party leaders in poll-bound states to work with unity to ensure victory that will 'set the tone' for 2024 Lok Sabha polls even as it showed willingness to forge an alliance of 'like-minded' parties.
Dear readers, how will you celebrate your Tiranga this 75th Independence Day? Send us your pictures!
With this kind of coinage, the Opposition seems to be readily conceding the point that Modi is taller than all of them put together. So they need something bigger than themselves, collectively or not, to capture the voter imagination when it is about taking on Modi and the BJP in 2024, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The announcement came after the protesting farmers received a letter from the central government, with promises of forming a committee on minimum support price (MSP) and withdrawing cases against them immediately.
The farmers' body said that after these remarks of the court, Teni has "no excuse left for him" to continue as the minister.
"The killing of two BJP workers in Lakhimpur Kheri after a convoy of cars mowed down four farmers is a reaction to an action. I do not consider those involved in the killings as culprits," Tikait said in reply to a question asked during a press conference in New Delhi.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday seeking immediate resumption of talks with the government over their six demands, including a law guaranteeing minimum support price (MSP) for all farmers.
SP chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said Akhilesh will not participate in the yatra, nor will any other leader from the party.
'Why shouldn't we talk against the BJP when it is solely responsible for bringing in these three laws by riding rough over Parliamentary procedures and norms?' 'We will talk against the BJP because it is the sole political party responsible for pushing these destructive farm laws'
Tikait also said if the government continues to dismantle the resources, one day India will be known as 'Mazdoor colony' and only labour class (will be left) in the country.
'The cabinet approval is a logical step. It doesn't hold any more significance than what we have already stated on November 19.'
Addressing a kisan sammelan in Jhunjhunu, Pilot also targeted the government over the political appointments of retired bureaucrats instead of party workers.
Chaduni is a member of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 40 farm unions that led an over a year-long farmers' agitation against three central agri laws, which have been repealed.
The letter by 'Sanyukt Kisan Morcha', which represents farmer bodies mostly from Punjab, comes against the backdrop of the government holding talks with several farmers organisations from different states who the Centre claimed have extended their support to the new agriculture laws.
Farmers from Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring states on Tuesday offered 'antim ardas' -- the final prayers in the Sikh tradition -- for the protesters killed in the recent violence in Lakhimpur Kheri, with their leaders vowing to intensify the agitation against the Centre's new agri laws.
Bhartiya Kisan Union national president Naresh Tikait has asked BJP workers not to visit the rural areas of Uttar Pradesh, saying farmers are angry over the violence that broke out in Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday.
On the completion of two years of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said his government ushered a historic increase in the minimum support price (MSP) for crops and was doing everything possible to double the income of farmers.
"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.
Rakesh Tikait and other farm leaders return to Punjab after the year-long agitation compelled the Modi government to repeal the three farm laws.