With the talks between the Centre and the agitating farmer unions stalled since January, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Wednesday expressed readiness to resume the dialogue to resolve their objections to the three new agri laws, but the unions remained adamant on their demands for a repeal of the legislations and a legal guarantee on the minimum support price.
'If the Delhi Police has some issues over law and order on Republic Day, they can sit with Sankyukt Kisan Morcha and tell about alternatives routes for the tractor rally'
The BJP Friday formally announced that it will contest the upcoming assembly elections in Punjab in alliance with Amarinder Singh's Punjab Lok Congress.
Bir Singh Yadav, from Bahlolpur village in Noida, enacted the "symbolic suicide" at the Dalit Prerna Sthal where he has been camping along with scores of protestors belonging to the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lok Shakti).
After participating in the farmers' protest against the Centre's agri laws at the Tikri border, the women were returning to their village in Mansa district of Punjab.
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.
'If there is no outcome at Tuesday's meeting, then on the 30th thousands of tractors and farmers will march on the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway.'
The farmers stuck to their demand of taking out the rally on Delhi's busy Outer Ring Road.
The Congress also stepped up the offensive against the government by launching an online campaign in support of the farmers' agitation, with party leader Rahul Gandhi accusing the government of betraying the farmers for benefitting their 'corporate friends'.
Voicing his support for the farmers' protest in India, the Speaker of Wisconsin State Assembly has urged the Indian government to reconsider its decision on the three farm laws and listen to the concerns of the affected farmers.
Protesting farmers, who have been holding their fort at the Singhu border for over 20 days, are keeping monotony and boredom at bay by adding new books to their reading list -- day after day.
But the Congress said its leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will attend the event.
Kavitha Kuruganti of AIKSCC said the government was not responding to the pinpointed question of farmer leaders.
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 Centre may pass any law undermining the Constitution and on the back of its majority, but once the common man and farmers rise, they will not keep quiet until the new farm acts and the ruling party are destroyed, Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar said on Monday.
The Aam Aadmi Party had on Sunday extended its support to the 'Bharat Bandh' called by farmers' organisations on December 8.
Voting was held on Sunday on 117 assembly seats in Punjab and 59 assembly constituencies spread across 16 districts of Uttar Pradesh.
'If the Congress wants to keep the ship afloat, it will have to bury the differences.'
'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'
Several candidates, including Taranjit Singh Sandhu, the BJP's Amritsar candidate, are promising resumption of India-Pakistan trade via the Attari-Wagah land route.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday released Rs 20,946 crore to 10.09 crore farmers across India as the 10th installment of financial aid under the PM-KISAN scheme and said there was a need for innovation in agriculture along with promotion of natural farming. Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme, a financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per year is provided to the eligible farmer families, payable in three equal installments of Rs 2,000. The PM-KISAN scheme was announced in the February 2019 Budget.
The Shiromani Akali Dal-Sanyukt will contest on 17 seats.
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.
Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at the Delhi border points --- Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur --- for over four months, demanding the repeal of farm laws and a legal guarantee on the minimum support price for their crops.
Come ill-health, physical discomfort or family occasions, the men keep up the cheer and ensure their physical limitations don't cloud their optimism and their will to win the fight.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the Centre has transferred around Rs 1,35,000 crore so far under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme with the payment of eighth instalment on Friday and is also procuring higher quantity of paddy and wheat at minimum support price to boost farmers' income.
Given the sheer size of the state, achieving a similar turnaround in Punjab as promised could be a different ball game altogether, reports Sai Manish.
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.
Farmers participating in the ongoing protests against newly enacted three agri laws were not summoned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the government told Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
The seventh round of talks between protesting unions and three central ministers ended inconclusively on Monday as the farmer leaders insisted on the repeal of the three contentious farm laws right from the beginning, even as the government listed various benefits from the Acts.
Thousands of protesting farmers who reached ITO from the Ghazipur border clashed with police. Many of them driving tractors reached the Red Fort and entered the monument.
However, Sonu Sood has no such plans for himself.
Farmers' union body the Samyukta Kisan Morcha on Tuesday disassociated itself from those who indulged in violence during the tractor parade, and alleged some "antisocial elements" infiltrated their otherwise peaceful movement.
The agriculture minister said the government's constant efforts are aimed at making farmers prosperous by increasing their income.
A five-member delegation of TMC MPs, comprising Derek O'Brien, Satabdi Roy, Prasun Banerjee, Pratima Mondal and Md Nadimul Haque, also met the farmers there to support their protest against the new farm laws.
In a terse message, the ministry further added that "it is also best that diplomatic conversations are not misrepresented for political purposes."
Addressing a press conference at Singhu Border in New Delhi, farmer leader Balbeer Singh Rajewal said that farmers never demanded the Supreme Court form a committee to resolve the impasse, alleging the central government was behind this development.
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.
Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi was on Monday sworn in as the chief minister of Punjab, making him the first Dalit to hold the top post in the state.
The farmer leaders insist that the crowd is merely shifting from one spot to another to mobilise more people to join the movement.
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