2:05 AMAmidst farmers' agitation, govt procures more paddy on MSP
Amidst the farmers' agitation, the Central government has procured more paddy on MSP than the last years, with purchase of over 318.00 LMTs of paddy up to November 30, an official statement said on Tuesday. The purchase during the same period last year was of 268.15 LMT which shows an increase of 18.58 per cent over last year.
Out of the total, Punjab alone has contributed 202.77 LMT which is 63.76 per cent of total procurement. The government has continued to procure Kharif 2020-21 crops at its MSP from farmers as per the existing schemes. Paddy procurement for Kharif 2020-21 is continuing smoothly in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Maharashtra, the statement said,
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12:12 AMFarmers' stir: Heavy police force deployed, 3 more Delhi border points closed
The national capital's border points were under heavy police deployment on Tuesday with concrete barriers and multilayered barricades put in place as farmers agitating against the Centre's new agri laws blocked the Delhi-Noida border. Two more border points connecting the national capital with Gurgaon and Jhajjar-Bahadurgarh were closed as precautionary measures, leading to heavy traffic jams in several parts of the city. With this, in total five border points, including Singhu and Tikri, have been closed due to the protest.
The protest by farmers at the Delhi border points entered the sixth day and is set to continue as the critical talks between three Union ministers and farmer groups ended in a stalemate on Tuesday after they rejected the government's suggestion of a new committee to look into issues raised by agitating farmers. The two sides, however, decided to meet again on Thursday. Earlier in the day, Bhim Army chief Chandrashekar Azad joined the protesting farmers at the Delhi-Ghazipur border along with hundreds of his supporters and demanded that the new farms laws be withdrawn immediately.
Also, Bilkis Dadi, the octogenarian who was the face of the months-long anti-citizenship law protest in the national capital and featured in the Time magazine, was stopped by the Delhi Police personnel at the Singhu Border where thousands of farmers have been demonstrating, officials said.
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11:56 PMCentre deliberately prolonging farmers' problems: SAD
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday blamed the Centre for failure of talks with the farmer leaders, saying it was deliberately prolonging and deepening the farmers' problems with an aim of tiring them out. The government on Tuesday suggested setting up a committee to look into issues raised by farmers protesting against new farm laws, but it was rejected by representatives of 35 agitating organisations during their marathon meeting with three union ministers that ended without any resolution.
The meeting at Vigyan Bhawan in the national capital remained inconclusive and the government has called for another round of discussions on Thursday, December 3, farmer union leaders said. The SAD, which had quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over the new farm legislation in September, cautioned the farmers' organisations against alleged conspiracies to trap them with misleading and vague commitments through tricks like setting up a committee.
Setting up a committee is merely a part of the delaying tactics to tire the farmers out, the party alleged in a release here. But this shows how little does the BJP know about the strength, stamina and staying power of our brave farmers, senior Akali leaders Balwinder Singh Bhunder and Sikandar Singh said in a joint statement issued here. The SAD praised farmer leaders for not biting the government's committee bait and for not blinking at the critical hour. It said the failure of Tuesday's talks is the result of the government's refusal to focus on the specific demands of the poor and beleaguered farmers.
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10:04 PMIndian Overseas Congress donate rs 1 cr for famers' protest
Indian Overseas Congress Germany has decided to donate Rs 1 crore for the farmers; says "we decided to reach out our hands to different areas such as medical care, education of their children, financial support for the family of deceased farmers."
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9:21 PMLIVE: Will submit draft issues related to farm laws by Dec 2, says BKU chief
We'll submit a draft of our issues related to Farm laws tomorrow. Govt has started a conversation with Punjab, UP, Uttarakhand, Haryana & Delhi farmers. So, till the next meeting on Dec 3rd, govt has time to brainstorm over the issues raised by all: Naresh Tikait, BKU President
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8:42 PMLIVE: Govt asks farmer unions to submit specific issues in farm laws by Wednesday
The government has asked farmers' bodies to identify specific issues related to the three new farm laws and submit those by Wednesday for consideration and discussion in the next round of talks on Thursday, an official statement said after a nearly three-hour-long meeting remained inconclusive. Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Railways and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, and Minister of State for Commerce and Industries Som Prakash on Tuesday interacted with the representatives of 35 farmers organisations, mainly from Punjab.
During the meeting at Vigyan Bhawan here, the ministers explained the benefits of farm reform acts to the representatives of the farmers' Unions. Various issues related to these laws were discussed at length and talks were held in a cordial atmosphere, the agriculture ministry said in its statement.
Tomar emphasised that the government is fully committed towards the welfare of farmers and agriculture development is always on the top priority.
"During the deliberations, the Union Agriculture Minister proposed to constitute an expert committee to put forth the issues of farmers so as to resolve them with mutual consent but the representative of the farmers unions suggested that all the representatives will attend a further round of discussions with the Government to resolve the matter amicably," the statement said.
8:33 PMFarmers should flag specific issues in laws, Govt ready to look into them: Narendra Singh Tomar
As a meeting with representatives of protesting farmers remained inconclusive, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Tuesday they have been asked to come with specific issues in the new farm laws and the government is ready to discuss and address their concerns. The government had called a meeting with 35 representatives of agitating farmers at Vigyan Bhawan hereafter large-scale protests by various farmer groups, including from Punjab and Haryana, entered its sixth day on various borders of the national capital.
"We had a detailed discussion. We will again meet on December 3. We suggested to them to form a small committee, but they said they all will be present in the meeting. So, we agreed to that," Tomar told PTI after the meeting.
Asked why the government was holding a separate discussion with Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) chief Rakesh Tikait, the minister said, "They have come to us, so we are discussing with them also. We are ready to discuss with all farmers." Asked when the deadlock will end, he said, "The time will decide."
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8:12 PMLIVE: Farmers-govt dialogue inconclusive, next round of talks on Thursday
The more than three-hour-long dialogue between a group of more than 32 farmer union leaders and the government remained inconclusive on Tuesday. The fourth round of talks will be held on Thursday. The farmers declared that they will continue their protest and the agitation will be strengthened day by day until they do not get a solution to their demands from the government.
Farmer leaders, however, said the meeting was peaceful but the government was not ready to repeal its three farm laws, and proposed to form a committee to study and clarify law-related misconceptions to resolve the ongoing deadlock. Some of the farmers raised the issue that Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh were not present in the meeting despite the government's promise that they will be part of the discussions.
At the end of meeting, which began at Vigyan Bhawan in Central Delhi, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said "The third round of meeting has ended and the fourth round of meeting will be held on Thursday (December 3)." December 3 is also the date that was earlier decided by the government to hold talks with farmers.
Bharatiya Kisan Union General Secretary (Punjab), Balwant Singh told IANS: "The meeting was inconclusive".
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8:02 PMProtesting farmers show black flags to Union minister Rattan Lal Kataria
A group of over one hundred farmers protesting against the Centre's farm laws on Tuesday showed black flags to Union minister Rattan Lal Kataria in Jandli village adjoining Ambala city. The Union minister of state for Jal Shakti was accompanied by the BJP MLA from Ambala city, Aseem Goel, and some local party leaders.
Kataria, who is an MP from Ambala, had come to Jandli village to lay the foundation stone of an underbridge on the Ambala-Rajpura rail section.
The farmers, most of them youths, waved black flags outside the venue while Kataria was speaking. They also raised anti-government slogans and asked the minister and other BJP leaders to go back. A farmer leader, Charanjit Singh, said that the state government was falsely claiming that none of the farmers from Haryana were participating in the ongoing protest against farm laws near Delhi's borders.
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7:44 PMTalks with farmers good, fourth round of talks on Dec 3: Agriculture Minister
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Tuesday that meeting with representatives of protesting farmers was "good" and the fourth round of talks will be held on December 3. The minister told the media after Tuesday's talks that the government was keen on a group being formed but farmers' leaders wanted that the talks should be held with everyone.
"The meeting was good and we have decided that the talks will be held on December 3. We wanted a small group to be constituted but farmers' leaders wanted that the talks should be held with everyone, we do not have a problem with it," the minister said.
The government had asked farmers' leaders to give names of four to five people from their organizations and constitute a committee which will also have representatives from the government besides agricultural experts to discuss new agricultural laws.
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7:24 PMStudents join farmers' protest against farm laws at Singhu, Tikri borders
Students from various universities in Delhi on Tuesday joined the farmers protesting at Singhu and Tikri borders and expressed solidarity with them in their fight against the Centre's new farm laws. The protesters part of a student outfit, Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS), demanded that three farm legislations should be revoked unconditionally and the BJP government at the Centre should apologise to the people for introducing such "anti-people laws".
"We have launched agitations in different states in solidarity with the on-going movement and to bring to the fore the issues being faced especially by the most exploited section -- agricultural workers in the farming sector.
Through the enactment of new laws, the BJP government is aiming to benefit the corporates and rich farmers, and completely pauperize the small-marginal farmers and agricultural workers," the KYS said in a statement. Besides revocation of the new agri laws, the KYS also asked the government to take "pro-active steps in allocating lands to agricultural workers" and thereby encourage co-operative farming among them to end their exploitation.
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