Month: December 2020

The government has talked of some amendments to farm laws, farmer leaders said on Thursday as they continued to press for their demand for repeal of the laws.

The fourth round of talks held on Thursday identified “some points” and the next round of talks will be held on Saturday.

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said the government has given assurance concerning minimum support price (MSP).

“Government has given indications over MSP. It seems that their stand over MSP will be fine. The talks have made a little progress,” Tikait said.

“The issue is about the complete rollback of laws. The government wants to talk about MSP and amendment to the Acts,” he added.

Azaad Kisan Sangharsh Committee member Harjinder Singh Tanda said that the talks have made little progress.

“It earlier seemed that today’s meeting will yield no result. But in the second half, it seemed that there was pressure of farmers’ agitation on the government. Talks were held in a conducive atmosphere,” Tanda said.

“We are hopeful. The laws are wrong. In the next meeting, we will put pressure on the government. They will have to say that they will take back the laws. In my opinion, it will be finalised in the meeting day after tomorrow,” he added.

Farmer leader Baldev Singh Sirsa said they listed “all drawbacks” of laws before the government.

“They had to admit that there are drawbacks and they will make amendments. We said that we do not want amendments but the withdrawal of laws. We also and law should be made for MSP,” he said.

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar assured farmers after the talks that MSP will not be touched, the government was open to their suggestions for parity between mandis under APMC Act and those outside and for disputes under the new farm laws being adjudged in courts.

He said the government will also discuss the demand for registration of traders.

Tomar said the government has no ego and it was discussing the issues raised by farmers with an open mind.

The minister said the government will discuss points that emerged at the meeting on Friday and hoped that talks will move towards finality when the next round of discussions is held on Saturday. (ANI)

Indian Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) next week for four days.

During the visit, the Army Chief would be meeting the military leadership of the two countries.

Last month, Naravane went on a three-day visit to Kathmandu, where he met Prime Minister of Nepal KP Sharma Oli at the latter’s residence on Friday in Baluwatar.

He also gifted medical equipment, including X-ray machines, computed radiography systems, ICU ventilators, video endoscopy units and anaesthesia machines, for two field hospitals of the Nepali Army.

On November 5, the Chief of Army Staff was conferred the honorary rank of General of Nepal Army by Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari. He was also presented with a sword and scroll during the function in the presence of Prime Minister Oli, Indian Ambassador Vinay M Kwatra and other senior officials of both countries. (ANI)

China has been increasingly carrying out activities to deprive the Muslim community in the northwest region from openly expressing their Islamic faith, as authorities have reportedly destroyed the domes and minarets on mosques, even in remote areas and small villages.

Such demolitions have been extensively carried out in the areas of Inner Mongolia, Henan and Ningxia, which is the homeland of the Hui, the Chinese Muslim ethnic minority. Moreover, Chinese authorities have also forcibly closed three mosques in the Yunnan Province, reported Islam Khabar.

In a recent study, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute revealed that since 2017, 65 per cent of China’s mosques and 58 per cent of its important Islamic sites have been destroyed, and further pointed out the criminalisation of community gatherings and festivals, disappearance of academics, cultural figures and eradication of the Uyghur language from the public sphere.

In Kashgar alone, 70 per cent of the mosques have been demolished since 2016, though Rachel Harris, Ethnomusicologist and Uyghur specialist opined that the number was as high as 80 per cent. The entire old city was demolished and its inhabitants have been displaced, replaced with shiny modern shops.

According to Islam Khabar, China has even criminalised Islamic praying in public and local authorities send officials to Muslim homes to keep a watch and rule out even private prayers. Chinese president Xi Jinping is clearly aiming at separating the Muslim community from its heritage in order to break their lineage, roots, connections and origin.

Furthermore, several Uyghur Mazar scholars have suddenly disappeared in 2017, and have not been traced till date.

Sichuan University of China recently released a document titled ‘Public Opinion Crisis’, which vouches for the demolition of about 10,000 Muslim structures like mosques, minarets and domes in Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Hebei and Sichuan, and recommended counter-measures to the destruction of iconic Islamic sites in China.

The document stated that such improper handling of the religious issue will also undermine the spirit of the Central Committee’s consistent policy on ethnic and religious issues and thereby the credibility of the Party and State, and highlighted the adverse impact such measures will have on Muslim countries especially those situated with the Belt and Road Initiative.

The local Muslims are undergoing immense psychological trauma and do not dare to express their anguish under strong surveillance of local authorities, reported the document.

It is an irony that the Chinese government keeps denying the destruction of a large number of Islamic sites whereas it’s very own scholars from a Chinese University brought out the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) plans for a crackdown on Islam and a systemic campaign to eradicate the Muslim identity of China, according to Islam Khabar.

The Chinese are uncomfortable with the usage of the Arabic script by Muslims and assume it to be a radical expression, and this kind of approach only highlights the fragility of different ethnicities within the country, as the harsh crackdown on Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang might be extended to any minority at any moment.

It is a known fact by now that Xi Jinping wants to establish the supremacy of the ideologies of the Communist party in all walks of life for every Chinese even at the cost of impacting and restricting that individual’s religious freedom. (ANI)

The European Union Commission on Wednesday refused to lift the ban on allowing Pakistani flights to operate in their territory due to several complications relating to safety and license concerns.

The aviation department of Pakistan needs to make its pilot licensing authority more transparent, said the EU Commission, noting that the issuance to pilots has to be via a fool-proof protocol, reported ARY News.

The EU also objected to the safety procedures of the Pakistani aviation industry noting that it requires to work on that before the EU could allow it back in the operations.

This comes as Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had reported to have incurred a loss of Rs 280 million after suspension of its flight operation to and from the EU states, Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar had informed the National Assembly in October.

In a written reply, he had said the national flag carrier’s receipts from its flight operation in the EU bloc fell to Rs 1.41 billion from Rs 1.69 billion in July-August 2020, reported ARY News.

Last month, he had said that as many as 7,000 employees of Pakistan International Airlines will be laid off voluntarily. (ANI)

A legal notice has been sent to Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut by a member of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), Jasmain Singh Noni for her tweet, which she subsequently deleted, in which she “wrongly” identified an old woman at farmers’ protest as Shaheen Bagh’s Bilkis Dadi.

The notice, sent by Advocate Harpreet Singh Hora on behalf of Jasmain Singh Noni, said Ranaut had peddled “unverified information”.

The tweet had alleged that the old woman was available for protests for Rs 100.

Hora said Ranaut had deleted the tweet.

The legal notice said that when her premises were demolished, she had used social media to gather solidarity from her fans stating that her fundamental rights have been violated.

Similarly, the right to peacefully protest is a part of the farmers’ rights under the Constitution of India and she cannot claim a right to demean and insult the farmers, the notice added.

It said there are several news reports which claim that the two women are not the same and, otherwise too, she has not got the right to defame any old woman for her political mileage just because she is protesting in a peaceful manner against a particular piece of legislation.

It said Kangana Ranaut’s act has lowered the reputation and image of the farmers before the whole world.

The notice said this is a clear example of a “hate tweet” that needs to be tackled at the earliest. (ANI)

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, three years ago, passed the same farm laws in the state Assembly that the union government promulgated recently, said Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday.

Further attacking the Congress party, which has the government in Punjab, Badal said that the party, in its 2019 general election manifesto, had promised to abolish government mandis.

“I do not share the views of Captain Amarinder Singh because he has passed the same laws in his own Assembly. The farm sector laws, which the union government is implementing were passed three years back by Captain Amarinder Singh in the Punjab Legislative Assembly,” the SAD president, in an exclusive interview, told ANI when asked if he shares the view of Punjab government on farmers’ protest.

“Congress manifesto for 2019 general elections brought under Rahul Gandhi’s presidentship mentioned that they will implement these laws. In fact, they went one step further and said that if they come to power they will scrap all government mandis. They said that they will only have private mandis which is worse than what the current government is doing. So, I do not share their views,” Badal added.

Farmers from Punjab and Haryana have been protesting on the borders of Delhi, demanding that the three laws, which the Narendra Modi-led government passed recently, be repealed. Farmers say the reform laws will dilute rules around the sale, pricing and storage of farm produce.

“I share views of the farmers which are very clear. You make laws for people and you are doing what people do not want,” said Badal, whose party pulled out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in September this year against the farm laws enacted by the union government.

Earlier on October 20 this year, Captain Amarinder Singh had led the passage of three legislations in the state Assembly that sought to negate the impact of the farm laws passed by Parliament in September.

The bills included the Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services (Special Provisions and Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) (Special Provisions and Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2020.

Earlier on August 4, 2017, the Punjab government had given a nod to the ‘Punjab State Farmers and Farm Labourers Commission Act, 2017’ through an ordinance with a stated resolve to empower and safeguard the interests of the farming community.

The five-member commission, with a nominated chairperson, was entrusted the powers to frame agriculture policy and other matters referred to by the government. The commission was stated to have a corpus fund of Rs 25 crore initially and Rs 5 crore for next five years grant to be given by the state government. The commission has the mandate to submit its report to be tabled in the Punjab Assembly.

Earlier on Thursday, Captain Amarinder Singh met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and urged the union government to rethink its stand on the legislations while appealing to the farmers to find an early solution to the problem that was adversely impacting the state’s economy and also posed a serious danger to national security.

Punjab Chief Minister during the meeting stressed that the problems of farmers need to be solved quickly.

Amarinder told reporters that he and his Congress government were not involved in mediation in any way and the matter had to be resolved between the union government and the farmers.

“A solution has to be found at the earliest,” he said, adding that he had come to meet the Union Home Minister to reiterate Punjab’s stand on the imbroglio between the farmers and the central government, as well as the need to secure the future of the farming community and agriculture.

Notably, SAD had withdrawn support to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in September this year against the farm laws enacted by the union government.

Meanwhile, the farmers’ protest against the three agricultural sector laws passed by the central government in the last monsoon session entered the eighth day on Thursday with demonstrations on Sant Nirankari Samagam ground in Burari on the outskirts of Delhi and other border areas.

A delegation of farmers is meeting Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday, said Rakesh Tikait, Spokesperson, Bharatiya Kisan Union.

“A delegation of farmers will meet the Agriculture Minister on Thursday. If the government wants, it can resolve the issues. All farmer organisations across the country should take to the streets now,” said Tikait.

“The Prime Minister said many times that minimum support price will be protected, so what’s the problem in putting it in writing? Farmers will go back once their demands are met,” said a protesting farmer at the Singhu border.

The government had held the third round of talks with farmer representatives on Tuesday. During the talks, the Centre offered to set up a committee, which the farmers’ unions rejected, and instead demanded a special session of parliament to repeal what they have called “black laws” made to favour corporate bodies. Farmers said they will continue their protest till their issues are resolved.

The Union Agriculture Minister had maintained that the farm laws are in the interest of farmers and the reforms have been done after a long wait and the government is ready to address their concerns.

Notably, farmers have warned that Thursday’s talks are the “last chance” for the government to take a decision on the laws.

“Thursday is the last chance for the government to take a decision to repeal the laws. Otherwise, this movement will become huge and the government will fall,” Pratibha Shinde of the Lok Sangharsh Morcha said.

Apart from Tomar, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Parkash were also present in the meeting held with farmer leaders on Tuesday.

The farmers are protesting against The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. (ANI)

In the fourth round of meeting held with the Centre here at the Vigyan Bhawan on Thursday, farmer leaders suggested the government to hold a special session of the Parliament and sought abolition of the three farm laws.

“The farmer leaders suggested the government that a special session of the Parliament be called and the new farm laws to be abolished,” an official said.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, and Railways and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal held a meeting at the Vigyan Bhawan with a delegation of farmers, including the leaders of several farm organisations holding protests in the national capital against the recent farm laws.

Earlier in the day, farmer leaders, while speaking to reporters ahead of the meeting, had expressed hope that the rounds of talks will lead to a positive outcome but many leaders remained consistent with their stand that the protests will continue until the farm laws are rolled back.

“We hope that the talks today will be productive. If our demands are not met, then the farmers will continue the protest and even take part in the Republic Day parade held in Delhi,” farmer leader Rakesh Tikat, a spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, had said.

Previously on December 1, during a round of talks with union agriculture minister and other leaders, the farmers had refused the tea invitation from the government stating that they had come to demand their right from the government and not to drink tea.

The government had held the third round of talks with farmer representatives on Tuesday. During the talks, the Centre offered to set up a committee, which the farmers’ unions rejected, and instead demanded a special session of Parliament to repeal what they have called “black laws” made to favour corporate bodies.

Farmers said they will continue their protest till their issues are resolved. Notably, farmers have warned that Thursday’s talks are the “last chance” for the government to take a decision on the laws.

“Thursday is the last chance for the government to take a decision to repeal the laws. Otherwise, this movement will become huge and the government will fall,” Pratibha Shinde of the Lok Sangharsh Morcha said.

Meanwhile, two farmers, who were participating in the agitation died on Wednesday. Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh announced financial assistance of Rs 5 lakhs each to the families of the farmers, hailing from districts Mansa and Moga respectively.

The farmers are protesting against The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. (ANI)

Actor Kangana Ranaut has got herself mired in yet another controversy after she said that an elderly woman, who was seen protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) at Shaheen Bagh in the national capital in December-March, was seen in the ongoing farmers’ protest in Delhi as well.

Punjabi singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh on Wednesday shared a video story by an international news channel that slammed the actor for misidentifying the elderly woman at the farmers’ protest in the national capital as Bilkis Bano, famously known as “Shaheen Bagh dadi” for her role in the December 2019-March 2020 protests against the CAA.

The video posted by Dosanjh on Twitter featured a Bhatinda-based elderly woman Mahinder Kaur, who according to the news channel was misidentified by Ranaut.

“Respected MAHINDER KAUR JI. Ah Sunn La Ni With Proof @KanganaTeam Banda Ena V Ni Anna Hona Chaida.. Kush v Boli Turi jandi aa .. (Respected MAHINDER KAUR JI. Listen to this with proof @KanganaTeam. A person should not be that blind. You can’t speak just anything),” Dosanjh tweeted in Punjabi with the video.

Responding to the famous Punjabi singer, Ranaut reiterated that the same “Bilkis Bano dadi ji” who was a part of the “citizenship,” protest had also joined the farmers’ protest.

“Ooo Karan johar ke paltu, jo dadi Saheen Baag mein apni citizenship keliye protest kar rahi thi wohi Bilkis Bano dadi ji Farmers ke MSP ke liye bhi protest karti hue dikhi. Mahinder Kaur ji ko toh main janti bhi nahin. Kya drama chalaya hai tum logon ne? (O Karan Johar’s pet, she is the same grandmother who was seen protesting at Shaheen Bagh and now demanding the farmers’ MSP. I don’t know Mahindar Kaur ji. What kind of drama is this?) Stop this right now,” the Queen actor tweeted.

Ranaut again tweeted she had only commented on “Shaheen Baag dadi cos they instigated riots there even that tweet was deleted almost immediately, I don’t know from where they brought another elderly lady in to (sic) the picture and now endlessly spreading lies. Vultures trying to instigate mob against a woman.”

A Punjab-based lawyer had earlier on Wednesday sent a legal notice to Ranaut for allegedly misidentifying the woman at the farmers’ protest in the national capital as Bilkis Bano.

Notably, Ranaut had deleted her tweet allegedly misidentifying the woman after she was slammed for the same on social media.

It is to be noted that women from a minority community, fearing that they would lose their Indian citizenship, protested against the CAA from the time it was passed by the Parliament last year till the COVID struck the country in March. (ANI)

As the countries gear up to vaccinate the masses against coronavirus, Interpol has issued a global alert for law enforcement across its 194 member countries warning them to prepare for organised crime networks targeting COVID-19 vaccines, both physically and online.

“As governments are preparing to roll out vaccines, criminal organizations are planning to infiltrate or disrupt supply chains,” said Jurgen Stock, Secretary General, Interpol.

He further said, “Criminal networks will also be targeting unsuspecting members of the public via fake websites and false cures, which could pose a significant risk to their health, even their lives.”

“It is essential that law enforcement is as prepared as possible for what will be an onslaught of all types of criminal activity linked to the COVID-19 vaccine, which is why INTERPOL has issued this global warning,” he added.

The Interpol also advised the public to take special care when going online to search for medical equipment or medicines.

“In addition to the dangers of ordering potentially life-threatening products, an analysis by the INTERPOL’s Cybercrime Unit revealed that of 3,000 websites associated with online pharmacies suspected of selling illicit medicines and medical devices, around 1,700 contained cyber threats, especially phishing and spamming malware,” said the official statement by the Interpol.

On Wednesday, the United Kingdom became the first country in the world to authorise use of Pfizer-BioNTech for emergency purpose, thus, paving way for the delivery of the vaccines from next week.

Meanwhile, more than 100,000 people in Russia have already been inoculated against the coronavirus, said Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, while presenting the Sputnik V vaccine to the United Nations over a video link. (ANI)

As the world celebrated the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, an Uyghur American activist, Rushan Abbas, on Wednesday pointed out that the “gruesome stain in humanity’s history” is an ongoing issue as “China has brought modern-day slavery into the 21st century”.

“One would hope that humanity has outgrown such prehistoric and barbaric practices. And yet, here we are, ending the year 2020 and growing closer to a new decade, still fighting to abolish slavery as if it were a new concept,” said Abbas, pointing towards “China’s genocide against Uyghurs”.

Uyghurs, a Turkic Muslim ethnic minority, mostly live in the western China province. The Chinese government for decades has been trying to assimilate the Uyghurs by force into the country’s majority Han cultural identity.

She gave examples of her family members and in-laws who are in China’s “concentration camps”. “Both Abdulhakim (husband) and I have family members who are extrajudicially detained inside China’s concentration camps. We don’t have any information on their well-being, their whereabouts or even if they’re alive. They are treated as slaves for China’s economic advancements. China has, in effect, brought modern-day slavery into the 21st century and state leaders have failed to act,” she said.

“What does this mean for us? It means that much of the world’s fast fashion and affordable goods that are so often “made in China” are made by enslaved Uyghurs,” she added.

She further says, “China claims these forced labour facilities and concentration camps are “vocational training centers.” However, these are lies, spun by the CCP to fulfill their economic goals on the blood, sweat, tears and lives of the Uyghur people.”

About the conditions inside these “concentration camps, the activist said, “My own sister and my husband’s entire family is languishing inside dark, cold cells… deprived of humane conditions, adequate food/water, medication and torn from their loving families… and for what? To make @CalvinKlein bags, @Adidas shoes, @Apple laptops and @Zara tops? My sister, Dr Gulshan Abbas is a retired medical doctor…”

She urged people to take time out to learn about the plight of the Uyghurs and “practice diligence and caution when buying any new product”. “Make sure that an Uyghur didn’t suffer to make the item that you bought. I pray that humankind can learn to respect, have compassion and love for one another, that slavery will be a thing of the past. No human deserves to be deprived of their freedom and suffer the abuses that Uyghurs face at the hands of the Chinese government,” she added.

A sizeable Muslim population in Xinjiang has been incarcerating in an expanding network of “political re-education” camps, according to US officials and UN experts.

People in the internment camps are reportedly subjected to forced political indoctrination, torture, beatings and denial of food and medicine, besides being prohibited from practising their religion or speaking their language. (ANI)