Farmers’ agitation calls off but resentment brews; demand for loan waiver stands

Agencies
October 3, 2018

New Delhi, Oct 3: The Tikait-led Bhartiya Kisan Union agitation has been called off but resentment is simmering in the ranks as the government remained non-committal on the major demands for waiver of unpaid farm loans, implementation of Swaminathan Commission recommendations on minimum support price, rehabilitation of families of farmers who have committed suicide and review of the terms of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna. 

The huge arrears towards sugarcane growers is also a major issue, although the Centre and Uttar Pradesh government have taken steps to enhance the liquidity position of millers to pay off farmers.

BKU top leadership told the UNI here on Wednesday that 'we have been given assurances on our demands but on the major ones, the government is non-committal." Most importantly, during the meeting with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday, the Centre has assured the BKU that it will keep official procurement centres open for 90 days to enable farmers to sell their produce at mandis. They expect the minimum 'boli’ at the government-pronounced MSP, and not lower than that.

Among others who attended that meeting were BKU leaders Naresh and Rakesh Tikait, BKU Convenor Yudhvir Singh and farmer leaders from Punjab, Haryana, UP, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnatka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Although the government assured farmers of higher MSP for next rabi marketing season, they are unhappy at the manner in which the MSP is being fixed which is not as per the recommendation of the Swaminathan Commission Report.

The demands on which BKU received assurances included lifting NGT ban on 10-year-old tractors, linking MGNREGA to farming, levying minimum GST of five per cent on farm equipment including tractor-tyres, equal pension for senior farmers and farm labours. 

Several farmers expressed their unhappiness at the manner in they were stopped at the Delhi-UP border at Ghazipur on Tuesday when they were marching peacefully to Rajghat and Kisan ghat even though the administration was aware of their rally.

The farmers' march had begun at Haridwar on September 23 and was to end on the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat.

“If we can’t tell our woes to the government, then to whom should we? Ours was a peaceful procession, then where was the provocation to use force, tear-gas and lathi-charge us? This shows that this government does not care for farmers,’’ was the common refrain of several farmers.

Use of force by police causing injury to several farmers at the border drew wide criticism following which the government allowed them to enter Delhi early Wednesday morning. That it happened on the birth anniversary of the Apostle of Peace made it look worse for the government.

After paying homage at Rajghat and Kisan ghat (Choudhary Charan Singh’s memorial), the agitating farmers headed back home.

Their hope now lies with the joint committee set up by the government to look at their major demands, they said.

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News Network
February 9,2020

Panaji, Feb 9: RSS general secretary Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi on Saturday said that anybody who wants to work (in India) will have to do so with the Hindu community and for their empowerment.

Addressing a lecture on the topic "Vishwaguru Bharat, an RSS perspective" at Dona Paula in Panaji, Mr Joshi referred to his communication with an intellectual who had said that India should become a "supre-rashtra" in the year 2020.

"Anybody who wants to work (in India) will have to work with the Hindu commumnity by taking them along and for their empowerment. Hindus have witnessed the rise and fall of India since the time immemorial. India cannot be separated from (the) Hindu (community). Hindus have always been at the centre of this nation," Mr Joshi said in Marathi.

He also added that since Hindus are not communal or antagonist, "nobody should be reluctant to work for the Hindu community".

The RSS leader further said, "The world says India will become a superpower in 2020, but I remember my conversation with an intellectual who had said that India should become a super-rashtra (super nation) in 2020".

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was among those who attended the lecture.

"To create awareness and unity amongst Hindus does not amount to (taking) an action against others (community). No one should feel it that way. We can say with utter self confidence before the entire world that Hindus becoming strong won't result in destructive activities, but (such proposition) will work for the society and humanity," he added.

Invoking history, Mr Joshi said Hindus never invaded other countries. "Whatever wars (they had fought) were for self defence. Everyone has the right to self defence," he said.

"It is India's duty to teach the world to walk on the path of ''samanvay'' (coordination). Nobody else other than India and Hindus can do this," Mr Joshi said.

He said some communities in the world keep preaching that only their path is "great".

"But we are from the (Hindu) community which says that we have our own path so as you. When the world will accept this ideology, then all the issues would get solved. It is the duty of India to take the world on that path," he added.

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News Network
January 15,2020

Kolkata, Jan 15: The arrows of Mahabharata's Arjuna had atomic power, claimed West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, drawing sharp criticism from academicians, even as he joined a long list of politicians who have in recent years given bizarre interpretations linking mythology with science.

Speaking at the 45th Eastern India Science Fair and 19th Science and Engineering Fair on Tuesday, Dhankhar also claimed that flying objects existed during the period of Ramayana.

"It is said that the plane was invented in 1910 or 1911, but if we delve into our old scriptures we will see in Ramayana, we had 'uran khatola' (aircraft)," he said.

"Sanjaya narrated the entire war of Mahabharata (to Dhitarasthra) not from TV. The arrows of Arjuna in Mahabharata had atomic power in it," Dhankhar said, asserting that the world can no longer afford to ignore India.

According to Sanskrit epic Mahabharata, Sanjay, even after staying away from the battlefield, had narrated what was happening there to Dhritarashtra, who was blind.

Dhankhar, who has been in news for clashes with the Mamata Banerjee government ever since he assumed office in July last year, joins politicians such as Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb and UP deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma to give odd interpretations of mythology.

While Deb had claimed that the internet existed during Mahabharata, Sharma suggested that godess Sita was a test tube baby.

Recently, Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi was trolled online for sharing a doctored video that claimed, "NASA recorded sound of sun -- Sun chants Om".

Indologist Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri said governors appointed by the BJP government at the Centre are delving into everything and behave "as if they are know-alls".

"They fail to understand one thing that great writers have very strong power of imagination," Bhaduri said.

Scientist Sandip Chakraborty said such comments only hurt the scientific progress in India at the global forum.

"The ancient writers described all these things based on their imagination. It is true that India made a lot of progress during the ancient period, but such comments only damages the progress made by our scientific community," he said.

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Agencies
February 25,2020

New Delhi, Feb 25: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday called a meeting to discuss the prevailing situation in the national capital after violence in Northeast Delhi over the amended citizenship law left four people dead.

Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and representatives of different political parties were invited for the meeting.

Follow live updates of clashes among CAA protesters in Delhi here

The home minister has convened a meeting to discuss the current situation in Delhi, a Home Ministry official said.

The move came after the home minister reviewed the law and order situation in the national capital on Monday night as violence rocked Northeast Delhi.

Frenzied protesters torched houses, shops, vehicles and a petrol pump, besides hurling stones.

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