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.
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.
Ram Gopal Varma's Veerapan to hit the screens this Friday.
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.
Former Delhi law minister Jitender Singh Tomar's wife, Preeti, on Tuesday said that the fake degree case initiated against him was a political conspiracy.
Delhi Jal Board vice-chairman Kapil Mishra, 34, was on Wednesday named as the new law minister
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.
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.
Kaur, the Union Minister of Food Processing Industries, is the only SAD representative in the Modi government.
It's a middle path for labour reforms.
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.
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.
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.
'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?'
Manoj Kumar, Aam Aadmi Party's legislator from Kondli, was on Thursday arrested after being quizzed by the Delhi Police in an month-old case of alleged land grabbing.
A court in New Delhi extended the judicial custody of former Delhi law minister Jitender Singh Tomar in an alleged forged degree case by 14 days on Monday.
Farmer leader Joginder Singh Ugrahan said told reporters after the meeting that the unions urged the government to repeal the three laws, but the Centre was unwilling to do so. "We decided to meet again on January 19 at 12 pm," he said.
Tomar said that when they opened the packet they were shocked to see parts of a frog and a lizard in it.
On the men's side, the fields have already been divided into two ATP 250 tournaments.
The development came against the backdrop of the ruling party accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to poach its MLAs to topple the Kamal Nath-led government, which enjoys a wafer thin majority in the House, and imminent expansion of the state Cabinet.
BJP sources indicated that swearing-in ceremony could take place on May 30.
Singh was arrested on Friday evening, along with his driver Pankaj and assistant Praveen, when he was called for questioning by Delhi police.
'Irrfan was known in his friend circles as a Sufi-esque man who was never detached from any incident, person or situation,' remembers Rajesh Abhay, a friend of the actor since their days at NSD.
The mortal remains of Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave were consigned to flames on the banks of the river Narmada at Bandrabhan in Madhya Pradesh's Hoshangabad district today, with full state honours.
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.
Additional Sessions Judge Vimal Kumar Yadav allowed the bail application of Tomar after imposing several conditions, including a bar on his travel outside the national capital without prior permission from the court and joining the investigation as and when required.
Bhushan said that "after abusing" and "orchestrating" a physical attack by his MLAs in the NC meeting, Kejriwal wants them "Back!, Hypocrite Shameless!"
'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.'
Farmer leaders said the government sought more time for internal consultations to present a final proposal in the next meeting to resolve the issue.
In politics, if your objective is only winning elections, just Chanakya neeti might do. For governance you need both, Chanakya neeti and Ram Rajya. You can neither beat up the farmers into submission, nor dismiss them as 'Khalistanis', asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will retain DoPT, Atomic Energy as well as all important policy issues and portfolios not allocated.
Farmer leader Darshan Pal accused the Centre of dividing farmer organisations, but it will not happen.
Attacking Aam Aadmi Party over the fake degree row and domestic violence case against its MLAs, Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said that the "self character certificate" given by the ruling party to its members has "fallen flat".
The government's negotiations with protesting farm unions hit a roadblock on Friday as the farmer leaders stuck to their demands for a complete repeal of three farm laws they find pro-corporate and a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP), even as the Centre asked them to reconsider its proposal for putting the Acts on hold for 12-18 months.
2017 has also seen a sharp increase in ceasefire violations at the LoC by Pakistan.
As polling begins on Friday for the remaining 25 Rajya Sabha seats in six states, here's a list of some of the bigwigs who are seeking to be elected to the Upper House of Parliament.
Irrfan was hoping he would get a role as one of the kids in Salaam Bombay!, and when that didn't happen, heartbreak and tears followed.
Will he leave the party? Will he float a new one? Or join an existing one? As speculation is rife over Jyotiraditya Scindia's next move, the Madhya Pradesh Congress unit appears to be divided on the rift between him and Chief Minister Kamal Nath, reports Sandeep Kumar.
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.'
