Farmers' leader Sharad Joshi passes away

December 12, 2015

Pune, Dec 12: Veteran farmers' leader Sharad Joshi, who spearheaded several campaigns across the country to press for remunerative prices for agriculturists, died here today.

sjJoshi, 81, was suffering from age-related ailments and the end came at his residence here, according to his family.

An erudite scholar, Joshi also had a term in the Rajya Sabha as an elected member from 2004-10, when he served on as many 16 parliamentary committees.

He gave up a decade-long lucrative assignment with International Bureau of Universal Postal Union (UPU) based in Switzerland in 1977 to return to India and take up the farmers' cause.

He formed his trend-setting outfit Shetkari Sanghatana in 1979, galvanizing the unorganized farmers' movement in the state.

After launching the outfit from his farm at Chakan near here, Joshi shot into limelight by leading a prolonged agitation of onion growers in Nashik district, which took a violent turn leading to his arrest.

He soon expanded his sphere of activity by taking up the issue of remunerative prices for a wide range of farm produce like sugar cane, rice, cotton, tobacco and also milk and joined hands with Mahendra Singh Tikait, farmers' leader from the North to set up a non-political co-ordination committee of all farmers' organisations in the country 1982.

Launching his initial stir from his home state Maharashtra, Joshi later spread his wings and influence in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and also to the south by organizing agitations for remunerative prices in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Liberal and progressive in outlook, he also sought to amalgamate the farmers' cause with that of women's empowerment and organized a massive rally of women farmers and farm labourers at Chandwad in Nashik in 1986 attracting about two lakh women.

An erudite scholar, Joshi hailed for his deep knowledge of agricultural economics as he famously sought to distinguish between the conceived image of "elitist "India" and "Bharat", rooted in the country's soil and ethos.

Entering the realm of politics, he floated a political party in 1994 named "Swatantra Bharat", envisaging in its manifesto a complete revamp of the country social, economic and political system aimed at minimal government interference.

He also served as chairman on Central government's Agriculture Consultative Committee in 1990-91 with a cabinet rank.

Active till the end, Joshi had authored many books in English and Marathi dealing with various issues concerning agricultural economics and also women's empowerment.

Just as he turned 81 recently, he had expressed his desire to rejoin the farmers' cause dear to his heart on the issue of the controversial Land Acquisition Bill.

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News Network
February 2,2020

New Delhi, Feb 2: The Congress on Sunday released its manifesto for Delhi polls, promising to implement unemployment allowance of Rs 5,000-7,500 per month and cashback schemes for water and power consumers, if voted to power.

Presenting the manifesto, Delhi Congress chief Subhash Chopra said the party will provide free power up to 300 unit per month.

The manifesto also committed to spend 25 per cent budget each year on fighting pollution and improving transport facilities.

An unemployment allowance of Rs 5,000 for graduates and Rs 7,500 for post graduates per month will be provided under the Yuva Swabhiman Yojna, he said.

The Congress will launch flagship cashback schemes for power and water supply to benefit consumers saving these resources. The party, if voted to power, will open 100 Indira Canteens to provide subsidised meals at Rs 15, Chopra said.

The Congress will challenge the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the Supreme Court and demand the Centre to withdraw the law. The party will also not implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the existing form of the National Population Register (NPR), if voted to power in Delhi.

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News Network
July 31,2020

New Delhi, Jul 31: Air India has operated more than 2800 flights and flown over 3 lakh passengers worldwide till now under the Vande Bharat Mission.

"Air India under Vande Bharat Mission Operated more than 2800 flights and flown more than 3 lakh, 80 thousand passengers worldwide till now," Air India said in a tweet on Thursday.

The fifth phase of the Government of India's 'Vande Bharat' mission, aimed at evacuating Indian nationals stranded in various foreign countries owing to restrictions on air travel, will begin early next month, August 1.

"Under Vande Bharat Mission, we have already brought back more than 2.5 lakh stranded Indians from 53 commies," Air India had earlier said in a statement.

Over 7.88 lakh Indians stranded abroad due to coronavirus pandemic have returned under Vande Bharat Mission till July 22, Ministry of External Affairs had said.

The government started Vande Bharat Mission on May 7.

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News Network
June 8,2020

New Delhi, Jun 8: Places of worship on Monday across the country reopened after staying shut since March due to the COVID-19 induced lockdown.

Scores of temples, mosques and gurudwaras were seen opening up keeping in view the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by Union Home Ministry to prevent coronavirus spread.

As per Ministry of Health guidelines, touching of idols/holy books, choir/singing groups, etc are not allowed.

In Delhi, people gathered at Gauri Shankar Temple in Chandni Chowk to offer prayers. With national capital seeing a rise in coronavirus cases, the devotees were seen wearing masks and taking precautions. People were also seen offering prayers at Kalka Ji Temple.

Several people arrived at Sri Bangla Sahib Gurudwara to offer prayers. Devotees were made to pass through the disinfectant tunnel before entering the Gurdwara in order to prevent the virus.

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Devotees were seen offering prayers at Eidgah Mosque in Lucknow.

Devotees also offered prayers at Shree Dodda Ganapathi Temple in Basavanagudi, Bengaluru.

Hanuman Garhi Temple in Ayodhya also reopened on Monday.

Prayers were offered at Durga Mata Mandir near Jagraon Bridge in Ludhiana, as the government has allowed reopening of places of worship.

Although religious places have opened in most of the states, however, there are some states which are yet to do so.

Preparations related to Yatra of Char Dhams including Badrinath have been completed, however, local representative of the areas from where the routes of this yatra pass have requested the government to not allow the commencement of the Yatra.

Based on the assessment of the situation, the Odisha Government ordered that all religious places/places of worship for the public will continue to remain closed till June 30.

Earlier, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that religious places and places of worship for public, hotels, restaurants and other hospitality services along with shopping malls will be permitted to open from June 8.

However, these facilities will not be able to resume operations inside containment zones designated by authorities in states.

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