Air India, which operates 72 weekly flights from various cities to Dubai, and IndiGo cancelled their services on Wednesday.
With the Opposition targeting the government on alleged irregularities in the farm loan waiver scheme, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday promised "stringent possible action" against defaulters, if any.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday termed as "hoax" the government's Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion) farm loan waiver package, saying the move was just to make political capital as in effect it will put the major burden on future governments.
The finance ministry has called a meeting of the State-Level Bankers Committee in New Delhi on Tuesday, which will be attended by officials from scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks, cooperatives, Reserve Bank of India, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, the Centre as well as states. The meeting will be presided over by financial services department secretary Arun Ramanathan.
Stalin said that Modi should allow the farmers to meet him and offer a consoling solution at the earliest.
Farmers mounted their protest demanding a financial package for losses caused by the recent floods, a legal guarantee to minimum support price, and a sweeping debt waiver.
Farmers will march towards Delhi on Tuesday after a meeting with two Union ministers over their demands, including legal guarantee to minimum support price (MSP) for crops, remained inconclusive.
The United States' efforts to isolate Iran for its alleged clandestine development of a nuclear weapons capability will figure in the strategic talks between Washington and New Delhi this week, but whether India will be issued a waiver from sanctions against those nations that do not dramatically curtail oil imports from Iran will not be a part of the discussions, a senior US official has indicated.
Airfares on major domestic routes from Chennai surged as flight operations at the airport were disrupted due to strong winds and torrential rain that lashed the city in the wake of Cyclone Michaung on Monday. According to ixigo data, on December 5, one-way spot airfares from Chennai to cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Kolkata rose between 52 per cent and 171 per cent compared to prices three to seven days prior. The Chennai-Mumbai route, the busiest flight route from Chennai airport, saw airfares surge 68.6 per cent from Rs 3,728 to Rs 6,286 in the aforementioned period.
Notwithstanding the resolution of G-8 countries on curbing transfer of enrichment and reprocessing technology, India on Thursday asserted that it was proceeding with bilateral civil nuclear deals with various countries on the basis of 'clean waiver' granted by the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
Farmers on Saturday evening ended their three-day 'rail roko' stir that hit the movement of trains, causing inconvenience to passengers in Punjab and Haryana.
The 30-day visa-free entry is also currently enjoyed by eight ASEAN countries for the purpose of social visits, tourism and business.
The government has assured that all suggestions such as raising the land ceiling limit for the waiver will be considered. The loan waiver scheme would also cover all agricultural loans disbursed by private scheduled commercial banks as well. Congress MP Mohsina Kidwai wanted to know whether the government would raise the land ceiling for the waiver to farmers from the existing limit and whether it would come out with a package for the farmers to pay off money lender loans.
The UPA government had last year announced a nearly Rs 71,000 crore (Rs 710 billion) farm loan waiver scheme to offer relief to farmers, especially the small and medium ones who were unable to access fresh loans due to non-payment of dues. Noting that the full impact of failure of monsoon was yet to be assessed, the minister said the country would, however, be able to achieve six per cent plus economic growth during the current fiscal.
The revenue department had sent notices to FIIs demanding 20 per cent MAT
Social media platform X on Thursday expressed disagreement with the Indian government's order to block accounts and posts related to the ongoing farmers' protests and called for extending freedom of expression to the affected posts.
'The lack of a majority isn't the issue. He has enough in 240, especially as none of his allies can pull down his coalition.' 'That's why he's started as if this were just another, normal term. That pretence is vital for him.' 'The change for Modi 3.0 comes not from numbers, but from the new environment of contestation,' points out Shekhar Gupta.
The amount of debt waiver and debt relief to the farmers has exceeded by over Rs 6,569 crore (Rs 65.69 billion) against the original estimates of February this year, Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.
Three Union ministers and farmer leaders will meet in Chandigarh at 6 pm to discuss their demands, including a legal guarantee for MSP for crops and farm debt waiver.
Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Rajya Sabha 'the government is absolutely sensitive and seized of the matter'.
Gandhi said that the Centre should not discriminate amongst states and no politics should be played with farmers suffering across the country.
The Haryana police in Ambala district Thursday said they will be seeking cancellation of passports and visas of those found indulging in acts of vandalism during the ongoing farmers' agitation.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday told Parliament that the farm debt waiver and relief scheme has benefited 36.4 million farmers and taken care of their Rs 66,477 crore (Rs 664.77 billion) debt burden.
Two-time chief minister and five-time MLA Janata Dal-Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy has once again demonstrated his political acumen by bagging a seat in the union council of ministers, despite his party joining the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance just last year.
In order to reduce government litigations, the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the GST Council has fixed a monetary limit for filing appeals by the tax department before the various appellate authorities. It has recommended a monetary limit of Rs 20 lakh for GST Appellate Tribunal, Rs 1 crore for the High Court and Rs 2 crore for the Supreme Court for filing of appeals by the department before these legal forums, she said after the 53rd GST Council meeting held in New Delhi.
With the general elections due in 2009, lenders to farmers will get cash compensation of Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) -- or almost 70 per cent of the waiver package -- in 14 months from July this year. Farmers whose debt is waived will become eligible for fresh credit after June 30, by which time the relief package will have been completed.
A rider is a supplementary cover which can be purchased with the base policy by paying an additional premium.
Farmer leaders participating in the 'Delhi Chalo' agitation on Friday said the cremation of Shubhkaran Singh, who died amid clashes between Haryana Police and Punjab farmers, will not take place till the Punjab government registers a case against those responsible it.
The much awaited implementation of the over Rs 71,000 crore (Rs 710 billion) farm debt waiver and relief scheme got underway on Thursday with public sector banks, regional rural banks and cooperatives displaying names of the beneficiaries at branches.
The Nuclear Suppliers Group finally gave its nod to the India-specific waiver on Saturday.The decision came after the NSG held fresh rounds of unscheduled discussions on grant of a waiver for India, after marathon parleys on Friday failed to produce a consensus, with China joining a clutch of countries having reservations over the move.Diplomats from 45 countries constituting the nuclear cartel had been engaged in hectic and tough negotiations.
Union Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Munda, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai represented the Centre at the meeting over the farmer unions' various demands, including a law guaranteeing a minimum support price (MSP) for crops. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also joined the meeting at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration in Sector 26. The meeting started at around 8:45 pm on Thursday and lasted for around five hours.
The second phase of Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' in Jharkhand, which was scheduled to commence on Wednesday, has been cancelled, a party official said.
Authorities in Punjab have raised an objection over the use of a drone by Haryana to air-drop tear gas shells on agitating farmers in their territory at the Shambhu border, a senior official said on Wednesday.
Russia on Friday assured that India would continue to enjoy the waiver it received in 2008 from the Nuclear Suppliers Group's export ban and Moscow wants New Delhi's full participation in the 45-nation grouping that regulates global atomic commerce. Russia's assurance came after India objected to the new guidelines adopted in June by the NSG on the export of nuclear enrichment and reprocessing equipment.
With the Lok Sabha elections around the corner, the Maharashtra government is set to announce another farm loan waiver package to cover all those who were excluded by the central government's waiver package.
The youth -- their dreams of government jobs unfulfilled -- are voicing their frustration.
RRBs, which cater to the rural sector, are sponsored by major public sector banks, and Centre and State governments also hold stake in them. Earlier, the bankers told Chidambaram that they were facing liquidity crunch due to delay in the relief package, and were unable to provide credit to farmers.
Farmers of Punjab are not celebrating the farm loan waiver yet, viewing the loan waiver as a 'temporary crisis management measure' by political parties ahead of an impending election. Going by National Sample Survey Organisation's (NSSO) figures, every farmer household in India was having an average outstanding loan of Rs 1,258. In Punjab, it was the highest at Rs 41,576 (December 03 figures). The recovery rate of institutional loan in Punjab was 85%, highest in the country.
Launching the annual survey of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said the government has started a 'revolution' in farming sector by waiving farm loans of Rs 60,000 crore. He said improving the agriculture sector is an important challenge for the Asia-Pacific region & deserves a 'serious response'. The report would open up solutions to the socio-economic issues across the region Nath said on the occasion.
Police on Friday used tear gas to disperse Haryana farmers heading towards Khanauri on Punjab's border with the state where farmers, mostly from Punjab, have been camping since last week after their 'Delhi Chalo' march was halted by security forces.
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