Farmer leaders on Monday started their day-long hunger strike against the Centre's new farm laws and said protests will be held at all district headquarters later in the day, even as more people are expected to join the ongoing agitation at Delhi border points.
Gates, who is also co-chair in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, further said since the issue of climate change is "complicated", different interventions are required to be taken including developing new variety of seeds and their distribution to farmers.
She resigned soon after her husband and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal strongly opposed the bills in Lok Sabha on Thursday night, claiming these proposed legislations will "destroy" the agriculture sector in Punjab, and announced that Harsimrat Kaur Badal will quit the government in protest against these three bills.
Kaur, the Union Minister of Food Processing Industries, is the only SAD representative in the Modi government.
'Now that the home minister met us to discuss our demands a hope has definitely been kindled that farmers's demands will be met by this government.'
The minister said he would not reveal the nature of the action by the armed forces but asked people at an event here Friday to trust him on this.
Farmer leaders said the government sought more time for internal consultations to present a final proposal in the next meeting to resolve the issue.
Farmer leader Darshan Pal accused the Centre of dividing farmer organisations, but it will not happen.
Tomar said the union leaders kept insisting on repeal of the three farm laws, but the government side tried to explain them the benefits of the Acts and sought to know specific problems faced by the farmers.
'Our demand is simple: Those private players (to whom 94 per cent of the farmers sell their produce) should also buy our produce at the MSP.'
The GoM recommended that activities of all religious organisations should not be allowed till May 15 as a precautionary measure to check spread of coronavirus infection, the sources added.
After two and a half months of taking oath, MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has many challenges before him. The first is to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic, which has affected more than 10,000 people in the state. But The political challenges are even more daunting, reports Sandeep Kumar.
Union leaders, who came out of the meeting venue shouting slogans, said the talks remained deadlocked and some of them threatened to boycott any further meetings if no solution was found at Thursday's meeting.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be the deputy leader.
Among the panels announced on Thursday is the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) to be headed by the prime minister with Shah as the other member.
Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Arun Jaitley, J P Nadda and Prakash Javadekar were among the key leaders from the BJP at the meeting.
The Congress expressed its 'whole-hearted' support to the 'Bharat bandh' called by farmer unions against the new agri-marketing laws and announced that it will hold protests that day at all district and state headquarters in solidarity with the demands of the farmers. TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said the party rank and file would actively participate in the bandh to ensure it was a success.
The prime minister also asked senior ministers to hand-hold the new incumbents, sources said after the meeting.
As the issue remained deadlocked with both sides sticking to their respective positions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while laying the foundation stone for a new Parliament building, invoked Guru Nanak to underscore the importance of dialogue and noted that the Sikh Guru had said that interaction should continue till eternity.
'The Modi government is not listening to us. So now we are coming to Delhi to talk with the central government.'
The government has made its flagship crop insurance schemes voluntary for farmers with existing crop loans or those willing to take new ones, as it seeks to address the concerns raised by farmers' body and states in implementation of these programmes. "The Union Cabinet has approved the revamping of 'Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)' and 'Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS)' to address the existing challenges in implementation of crop insurance schemes," an official statement said.
The exercise is aimed at ascertaining whether they promoted demonetisation and other initiatives.
Rajiv Kumar will continue as vice-chairman of the body, along with other full-time members V K Saraswat, Ramesh Chand and V K Paul.
The development came a day after the protesting farmers rejected the Centre's offer to start talks as soon as they move to Burari and continued to stay put Singhu and Tikri borders of the national capital.
Total burden on the exchequer will increase by Rs 12,000 crore to Rs 87,217.50 crore for the year 2019-20.
The government has also extended till August 31 the repayment date of short-term crop loan of up to Rs 3 lakh for agriculture and allied activities. The decision, taken by the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will give respite to farmers and also help them take a call on which kharif (summer) crop to grow as sowing picks up with the arrival of southwest monsoon.
'I may be non-existent in the movie because I don't have much contribution in Mahi's life.'
The ravines, which are sharp, steep mud hillocks, stretch over three states - Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, once home to several dreaded dacoits have long been the subject of several projects and government schemes to make them agriculturally viable.
The two bills -- Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 -- were passed by Lok Sabha on Thursday.
A number of senior faces from the outgoing cabinet including Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal, Narendra Singh Tomar and Prakash Javadekar are expected to figure in the new cabinet.
Manohar Lal Khattar took oath as Haryana chief minister for the second time on Sunday and will lead the Bharatiya Janata Party-Jannayak Janta Party coalition government in the state. JJP leader Dushyant Chautala took oath as the deputy chief minister.
The Congress leadership has become stunted, it does not understand agriculture and the party is trying to mislead farmers for its own vested interests, said Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.
Party chief Chaudhary Ajit Singh and Jayant Chaudhary will decide on the number of seats the party will contest and the matter may be discussed during a meeting in the next few days
The opposition made it clear during the meeting that it will press for a joint parliamentary committee to probe the Rafale jet deal and raise several issues, including the "misuse" of probe agencies and the autonomy for Reserve Bank of India.
There is also a buzz about Shah joining the government. About 60 ministers may take oath.
Draped in a saree matching the colour of her background, the actor was seen lending a hand to women working in a wheat field, carrying bundles of freshly harvested crop.
The BJP said that the SAD had informed in advance that it will not attend the meeting.
A search operation was on to trace the missing persons, the SP said.
Ruling Janata Dal - United Member of Legislative Assembly Abhay Singh on Friday allegedly committed suicide after shooting his wife and six-month-old daughter dead at his father and Bihar minister Narendra Singh's official residence in Patna. Food and Supplies Minister Narendra Singh fell unconscious after the incident and has been admitted to the Intensive Critical Care Unit of Patna Medical College and Hospital with cardiac complications, sources said.
Both Houses have been witnessing a ruckus over the Rafale fighter jet deal and Cauvery river issue, among other matters.
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