Though agriculture ministry officials are confident of a bumper harvest due to record increase in kharif acreage, experts and farmers said the on-ground situation in some crops is not that encouraging as incessant rains since the last few weeks and pest attack could impact the final yield.
According to the ministry's statement, Tomar thanked the BKU (Kisan) leaders for coming out in support of the Farm Acts and said these laws have been welcomed in various states across the country.
Neither Union agriculture minister nor junior ministers were present to hear our concerns. We asked why the minister is not meeting us, why the government is playing double standards by calling us here and ministers holding virtual meetings in Punjab. There was no proper response," Darshan Pal, member of the coordination committee of 29 farmers' organisations, said after the meeting.
The proceedings of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned for the day on Tuesday amid continuous protests by opposition members over the Pegasus snooping row and farm laws, as they demanded that discussions be taken up on the issues in the House.
Addressing a press conference, farmer leader Gurnam Singh Chadoni said if the Centre does not accept their demands during Saturday's talks, they will intensify their agitation against the new farm laws.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to file a status report within two weeks on the Special Investigation Team probe into the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi.
In a setback to the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Bharatiya Janshakti Party president Uma Bharti's elder brother Swami Prasad Lodhi resigned from the party on Monday.
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.
A search operation was on to trace the missing persons, the SP said.
Total burden on the exchequer will increase by Rs 12,000 crore to Rs 87,217.50 crore for the year 2019-20.
The numbers, however, appear to be in favour of the ruling dispensation to get these bills passed from Rajya Sabha, while the lower house has already cleared them despite a key NDA member Shiromani Akali Dal vehemently opposing them.
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh welcomed the 'positive spirit' in which the farmer unions and the Centre held the discussions and termed it a 'constructive development'. The meeting with representatives of various farmers unions at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi was attended by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Prakash.
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.
Farmer leaders on Saturday said the protesting unions stand firm on their demand of a complete repeal of the three agri laws and asserted that they are ready for talks with the government, but that should be held without any condition.
Capping its impressive showing in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the Bahujan Samaj Party also swept the three Lok Sabha bypolls for Mirzapur, Robertsganj and Bilhaur.
By March 17 it would be clear on who will be anointed to the post.
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.
The next meeting has been scheduled for January 22, a day after the farmer unions hold their internal discussions on Thursday, farmer leaders said after the 10th round of talks ended at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi after nearly five hours of talks, including two breaks.
Imarati Devi, Tulsi Silawat, Govind Singh Rajput, Mahendra Singh Sisodiya, Pradyumn Singh Tomar and Prabhuram Chaudhari were removed from the cabinet with immediate effect on Friday, said a Public Relations Department official.
Pawar alleged that the Centre neither consulted states this time, nor it called any meeting with state agriculture ministers before preparing these bills.
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.
'They wil show the whole world see how this government is treating its farmers.'
The latest updates from the Malayalam film industry.
The BJP said that the SAD had informed in advance that it will not attend the meeting.
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.
Expelled Aam Aadmi Party leader Yogendra Yadav on Wednesday said he has not received any official communication from the party regarding his expulsion, and still considers himself to be a part of the 'movement'.
In a special segment called In Memoriam, Irrfan Khan and Oscar-winning costume designer Bhanu Athiya were remembered alongside many Hollywood actors and filmmakers including Chadwick Boseman, Ian Holl, Sean Connery and Max von Sydow.
There is also a buzz about Shah joining the government. About 60 ministers may take oath.
In a meeting with the President on behalf of these 18 non-National Democratic Alliance parties, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said he has requested the President to return the bills, and only give his assent after they have been passed after following proper rules and procedures.
Both Houses have been witnessing a ruckus over the Rafale fighter jet deal and Cauvery river issue, among other matters.
'It's really sad to see a promising career cut short so rudely.'
The 22 rebel Congress MLAs (who now have joined the BJP) will have to win the by-elections, which won't be easy as Digvijaya Singh and Kamal Nath will leave no stone unturned to secure those seats.
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.
Narendra Modi is expected to have a 45-member council of ministers who will take oath along with him on Monday evening. The council of ministers is expected to have 23 Cabinet ministers, 10 ministers of state with independent charge and 11 ministers of state, according to sources.
Countering the opposition claim that farmers across the country are agitated over the three new laws, he said that those in just one state are being misinformed and instigated.
The slain armymen are Sepoy Ilayaraja P, from TN, and Sepoy Gawai Sumedh Waman, from Maha.
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.
Three days after he recommended filing of an FIR against former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and expressed apprehension over possible attempts to "remove" him as Delhi Law Minister, Kapil Mishra was divested of the portfolio which was given to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
'Why should the government keep these laws on hold for 1.5 years when they are so disastrous for the interests and well-being of farmers?'
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